Rainbow Facility: Part III
by TrueBobJoe
Summary: All of Spark's work has led up to this. When a rebellion breaks out amongst the North American Union of Fliers, Spark must face her new threat, a villain who is referred to as Caronis. With her new enemy destroying the N.A.U.F from the inside, Spark finds her own country crumbling under three forces - two of which she believes may be Dash himself!
1. Recovery

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Spark slowly opened her eyes into the sight of a plain room. She was quite comfortable, other than the shooting pain in her right foot.

_Where am I?_ This was Spark's only conscious thought for a moment. She was suddenly flooded with horror-filled memories of her dead friend Spike, the evil athlete Dash, her comrade Dawn, and the friendly pressman, Peter. An image of the demented Manchester mayor, Alan Hendrick, and Spark recalled saving Peter by killing the mayor while she, herself, had been bleeding out on the floor from the bullet wound in the back of her foot. She remembered in terror how she had seen Dawn lying on the ground after being shot by Hendrick. The last thing she had heard before going blank in the Manchester Town Hall was the voice of Peter telling her,

"You guys are going to be just fine."

Spark could think no longer. She did not know why she had awoken; she needed more rest. Spark complained with her body's demands and closed her eyes, drifting off into sleep once more.

~O~

Spark opened her eyes and stared around the room again. She was much less tired now, it seemed she had been asleep for years. Spark looked to her side to see a small, wooden table with a button and a note. Scrawled on the note was,

_Spark, when you're awake, press this button._

_ Peter_

Deciding it was time to notify the world of her awakening, Spark stuck one finger out and tapped the button.

A few minutes later, a nurse walked into the room, and Spark could recognize her face.

"Nurse Rose?" she croaked.

"It's great to see you're awake!" exclaimed the familiar nurse who had treated her wounds so long ago.

"Yeah, I'm awake," Spark said, "It's good to see a friendly face again."

"I bet it is! But I'm a bit suspicious of you. Hospital twice in one month, both near-death experiences? Care to tell me what you've _really _been up to, Ms. Taller?" asked Nurse Rose. Spark sighed, knowing that she had lied to her about the car crash before.

"Alright then, I'll tell you…"

~O~

Once Spark had explained her troubling story, the nurse cupped her hands over her mouth, appalled.

"Oh, how horrible! You should've told me before, darling!" she cried.

"I thought you wouldn't believe me," Spark muttered, "My own mom didn't."

"Awful. Just awful. So you're the ones who've killed Hendrick, then?" wondered Nurse Rose.

"Yeah, that's all there really is to it. Celebrate. Yay," Spark groaned sarcastically, "But I've got a question for you. Why use the month timeframe? Two weeks would've been less dramatic.

"It wouldn't be accurate, either. You've been in here for three weeks." revealed the nurse.

"What?" burst out Spark, "Three weeks? Really?"

"Yes, three weeks," repeated Rose, "Is that excitement I detect in your voice?"

"It's been a month since my wings broke," explained Spark, "If I've been getting all of the steroids I need, my wings should work now!"

"Well, yes, we've been giving you all sorts of things for your foot and wings. Speaking of which, how does your foot feel?"

"Great. It hurt a few hours ago, though." answered Spark.

"I don't recall you being awake then. The last time monitors showed any signs of consciousness was last week." Nurse Rose corrected her.

"Man, I can sleep!" laughed Spark. Her laugh died down as a serious question struck her.

"Dawn? Where is she?" As Spark asked this, Nurse Rose's face turned from joking and lighthearted to deadly solemn.

"She's been in critical condition since you two were brought here by Mr. Flat. Taking a bullet in the ribcage isn't exactly healthy."

"Will she be okay?" asked Spark urgently. Nurse Rose stared deep into Spark's eyes, and Spark returned the gaze evenly.

"Well?"

"She'll… she'll be fine." Nurse Rose answered hesitantly.

"Is that the truth?" Spark persisted heatedly, "Is that honest truth?"

"I don't know," the nurse admitted, "Keep hoping."

"Am I allowed to visit her?" asked Spark.

"Sure, I –"

_Beep. _The electric doors slid open into the room and Peter stepped in.

"Peter!" exclaimed Spark happily.

"I told you you'd be alright!" Peter responded, beaming proudly.

"Well, Dawn isn't faring so well…" Spark said in an undertone.

"Peter! From what I've heard, you play a pretty significant role in Spark's plan!" Nurse Rose put in.

"Plan?" wondered Peter, casting a confused look at Spark.

"She knows about Dash and the Rainbow Facility," Spark told him, "You don't have to pretend you don't know."

"Oh," Peter said, relieved, "I know you're sort of in a hospital, but I thought it would be good to interview you while the story's ideas were still fresh in your mind."

"I understand. After this, we can see how Dawn's holding up." agreed Spark.

"Alright, here goes nothing. Give me a brief description of your home and your story…"

~O~

"I think I could condense all of this info into an article. You're in luck!" exclaimed Peter after the interview he had conducted.

"Okay, can we go and see Dawn now?" asked Spark.

"Of course," replied Nurse Rose, "Can you stand and walk?"

"Um… I dunno. Let me try." Spark threw up the covers on her cot and turned to climb out. Her feet touched the ground and Spark slid off her bed. She stood still for a moment.

"Well, I can stand," Spark confirmed.

"Try walking!" Peter said encouragingly. Spark took a step forward carefully and stayed, then moved her other foot.

"I can walk!" exclaimed Spark. She began walking around the room, gradually accumulating speed.

"I can run!" Spark threw her wings out and jumped, gliding around the room. She flapped her wings excitedly, Nurse Rose and Peter watched in amazement.

"I can fly again!" Spark was overcome with joy when she felt the air in her face as she soared around the room in a circle. Finally, she landed in preparation to visit her injured comrade.

"I don't suppose you want to visit Dawn in a hospital gown. Perhaps you should go and put on your usual clothes. They're by your bed," Nurse Rose said informatively.

"Good idea," agreed Spark, still beaming with her recovered ability to fly. She stepped over to her bed and picked up her orange shirt and blue jeans.

"What happened to my shocks and shoes?" asked Spark confusedly.

"Well, as you certainly recall, you were shot in the back of the foot. Your shoes and socks were ruined by the bloodstains." explained Peter.

"Oh. I guess that makes sense," admitted Spark, "What am I going to wear, then?"

"I figured this out pretty early," continued Peter, "So I went and bought you some new socks and shoes."

"Oh, they better not have been _too _expensive," said Spark modestly, "I don't want anything too fancy." Peter reached under Spark's bed and handed her socks.

"Okay… the shoes?" Spark asked impatiently.

"Hold on." Peter fished around under the cot for a minute before withdrawing a pair of bright red running shoes, which looked like a direct upgrade to her old shoes.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Spark, taking the shoes, "These are awesome! Just like the ones I've always wanted! How much did you spend on these?"

"Eh, a couple." Peter answered shadily.

"A couple what?" Spark persisted, "Hundred? Thousand? Million?"

"Yup. I paid a million dollars for an average pair of socks and a decent pair of shoes." Peter said with dripping sarcasm.

"Shut up." Spark laughed, smacking Peter over the back of the head.

"You go get changed," Peter instructed, "Have you forgotten that we're going to see Dawn?"

"Of course not!" Spark protested indignantly, "I was the one who suggested it!"

"Okay, okay," Peter said defensively, "Just hurry up."

~O~

Spark stepped out of her changing room back into her small hospital area to meet Peter and Nurse Rose. She felt comfortable, dressed in her usual attire.

"Alright, let's go!" said Spark excitedly.

"Okay, then, follow me," responded Nurse Rose, escorting them out of the room.

They walked around the building for some time before finding Dawn's resting room. Nurse Rose opened the door and let Peter and Spark through. There sat Dawn in her hospital cot, blanket up to her chin. T their right was a green monitor that showed her pulse.

_Beep. Beep._ Spark recognized the sound from earlier, a few weeks ago when she had suddenly awoken.

"She looks okay," commented Spark.

"She's much better than when she first got here, that's for sure." Nurse Rose pointed out.

"Are there any estimations as to when she'll wake up?" inquired Peter.

"Doctors say she'll wake up next week, with any luck," replied Nurse Rose, "But who knows? Spark wasn't supposed to wake up until next week, eith –"

Nurse Rose was cut off by a mumbling sound. Spark's eyes widened.

"Was that –?"

Dawn's eyes flew open.

"Dawn!" exclaimed Spark. Nurse Rose quickly walked over to awn and took off her oxygen mask.

"Were you trying to say something, dear?" asked the nurse.

"I said, 'Can you guys keep it down? I'm trying to sleep.'" Dawn said, her voice raspy. They all laughed weakly.

"That's all you'll give me? Come on, I've been awake since Spark was up. I've was waiting to crack that joke for about an hour!" complained Dawn.

"Ha, how do you feel?" asked Spark in a serious tone.

"I feel fine," Dawn mumbled, "I'm just a bit tied, that's all. How about you two?"

"Never better," replied Peter, grinning. Dawn turned her head to Spark.

"You?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Spark answered with a question, opening her wings. Dawn's mouth dropped open.

"Your wings are healed?" she questioned excitedly. Spark nodded gleefully.

"Awesome!" Dawn said.

"Do you feel good enough to leave!" asked Spark.

"Of course!" exclaimed Dawn, ecstatic with the idea of escaping her confinement to her cot, "Am I allowed?" Dawn turned to Nurse Rose.

"I think I'll have to ask for permission first…" Nurse Rose answered. Dawn frowned at her response.

"…but I suppose I could make an exception for your heartwarming tale…" Nurse Rose tried to please her patient. Dawn's face lit up, so the nurse had clearly succeeded.

"Awesome!" Dawn leapt out of bed, but staggered forward due to her unbalance and her bullet wound. Peter threw her a blue shirt that had previously been bloody. Dawn ran off to change.

~O~

Dawn didn't waste any time dressing up. She soon emerged into the hallway.

"Finally, out of this stupid hospital!" Dawn said eagerly. Peter looked at his watch.

"Oh, gotta fly, so to speak," he announced, shooting a humorous glance at Spark's wings, "If this story's going to hit the papers tomorrow, I have to get down to the station!" And with these words, Peter jetted down the hallway. Spark and Dawn stood there for a moment in silence.

"That was a terrible pun." Dawn proclaimed. Spark laughed and started down the hall to the hospital exit with awn.

"I can't wait for him to print the paper!" exclaimed Spark, "Our story will finally get out, and we can take this battle straight to Dash."

They picked up pace as they exited the hospital, earning a discount due to their services to the city. In unison, Spark and Dawn inhaled a breath of pure, fresh air.

"Great," Spark said happily, "Outside air, refreshing as ever."

"Agreed." breathed Dawn.

"What are we going to do for the rest of the day?"

"Let's just walk around and see how things have changed since we got rid of Hendrick." suggested Dawn.

"We? Excuse me, I'll take the credit for this one." Spark laughed.

"Shut up, just you –" Dawn started. She was suddenly cut off by a short civilian bumping into her and Spark in shock before stuttering,

"Y – y – you're… you're the ones who killed Hendrick!"

"News gets around fast," Dawn whispered to Spark. She turned to the man.

"How did you know"

"I read the paper everyday!" the man answered positively.

"But the article isn't supposed to be published until tomorrow!" protested Spark.

"Really? Various newspapers printed it a week or two ago. Best coverage ever! Honestly, this newspaper you're talking about is probably behind."

"No, he's not!" insisted Spark, "He got an in-depth interview! He was there, and it's a call to action!"

"He got an interview? Really? What newspaper does he run?" asked the man excitedly. Apparently he had missed the 'call to action' bit.

Spark was surprised to be dumbfounded by the question.

"I… uh… I dunno. Just check for anything that pops into the papers about us, all right?" Spark replied unsurely, making sure to advertise the article.

"Okay, I'll keep my eyes open!"

Spark turned to Dawn as the short man continued strolling down the street.

"Well, I guess we're famous!" Dawn said.

"I bet we could get something out of this," Spark though aloud.

"We could set up a donation stand," Dawn suggested, "We're kind of in a pickle financially, even though that medical bill was reduced…"

"Good idea."

~O~

"Oh, man," Spark panted as she carried a box into the apartment she shared with Dawn. Dawn followed closely behind her carrying a similar package.

"You know, I thought we'd make about fifty bucks, not a _million._" Dawn exaggerated. Spark dropped her box of cash on the floor and nudged it under her bed.

"Advertising is hard…" mumbled Spark, collapsing on the bed.

"Who's sleeping on the bed tonight?" asked Dawn.

"Since you took a bullet in the ribcage, I guess you can." Spark slid off the bed, too tired to stand.

"Night."

~O~

Spark awoke the next morning feeling rather sluggish. Dawn was already up and dressed, while Spark tried to go to sleep again.

"No…" Spark moaned, "I'm tired."

"Get up, lazy! We have to go see if they published the paper yet!" Dawn insisted.

"It's too early," argued Spark weakly.

"It's already eleven," countered Dawn, "Now wake up."

"Fine…" Spark tossed off the covers of her sleeping bag unwillingly and prepared for her day.

Once ready, Dawn and Spark walked outside to see people at different breakfast shops reading the paper. Spark squinted to see the headlines of the _Manchester Post._

_**THE STORY OF THE MANCHESTER HEROES REVEALED.**_

"Man, I wish I could've been interviewed…" Dawn said.

"Well, maybe you should've woken up earlier." retorted Spark humorously.

"Excuse me? I slept in, at least, and didn't have to be _dragged_ out of bed this morning!" fired back Dawn. They both laughed. A woman eating a bagel bumped into Spark and looked up from her newspaper.

"Oh, pardon me, I meant no –" She stopped abruptly as she looked down the headline's image and back up to Spark, who gave her friendliest smile.

"Oh, my, you're –!"

"Yes, indeed. May I borrow your paper?"

"Oh, uh… of course!" the woman complied, handing Spark the paper. She fixed her eyes upon it, and began to scan through the paper.

Peter barely interrupted Spark at any point in the paper. For the most part, it was just Spark telling her story. She was very pleased with how it was written. She told Dawn of the lack of commentary by Peter in the paper.

"Good thing, too," Dawn added as Spark handed the paper back to the lady, who was still staring at Spark curiously.

"What do we do now?" asked Spark, "Wait until more people read it?"

"We could go visit Peter." thought Dawn aloud.

"Do you even know where the Manchester Post is?" Spark frowned.

"No, but I'm guessing it'd be by Town Hall."

"Well, let's see how valid your guess its." Spark challenge, beginning to run.

"Wait!" called Dawn. Spark turned her head over her shoulder.

"What is it?" she shouted.

"The whole groundy world knows about fliers now, and your wings work. We should fly!' responded Dawn. Spark hadn't thought of this. She was getting used to being wingless.

"Let's do it, then!" Spark thrust out her wings and jumped forwards, springing into the air. Manchester citizens roaming the street were astonished as they looked at the two fliers soaring to Town Hall. Spark was excited to feel the wind in her face and the power of being above the ground. Suddenly, Spark realized she wasn't sure when Town Hall was, so she followed Dawn.

Surprisingly, Dawn was correct. Outside of the Town Hall, just a few buildings away from the other side of the street, resided the printing press. Dawn swerved down and landed gracefully. Spark, however, tripped upon her descent and tumbled over onto the sidewalk, scraping her hands. She looked up from the spot she was laying and found herself staring up at a candy shop.

"You okay?" Dawn called. Spark was suddenly reminded of her crash in Airchester on her exam day.

"Yes! I'm fine!" snapped Spark.

"Uh… okay." Dawn said uncomfortably. Spark stood up and brushed dust off her clothes.

"Sorry," she mumbled, "Let's go see Peter." The two friends stepped through the door of the printing press and immediately saw Peter walking down a hallway away from them. He appeared to be talking on the phone.

"Peter!" called Spark. He turned around and pointed at his phone, then kept walking. Dawn cuffed Spark over the head.

"Hey, what was that for?" Spark asked, rubbing the back of her head.

"Couldn't you se he was on the phone? It could be very important." Dawn answered.

"Yeah, right –" scoffed Spark.

"Spark, phone's for you!" Peter came back into the room, holding the phone out to Spark.

"Who is it?" inquired Spark.

"Just the president," Peter replied bluntly. Spark's eyes widened. She took the phone and cupped her hand over its microphone.

"What's his name?"

"Lewis Carolman," said Peter shortly, "Now hurry up, he's waiting." Spark nodded and put the phone to the side of her head.

"Hello?"

"Is this Spark Taller?" The president's voice rang through the phone.

"This is she. Hello, President Carolman." Spark responded nervously.

"I've known of the unity of fliers and groundies for quite some time, now, as I'm supposed to keep the peace. However, I was unaware of your dilemma with Dash Mallus. How is it that your government was unaware as well? Surely, they would eventually hear it, through the grapevine."

Spark wasn't entirely sure what 'through the grapevine' meant.

"Nobody usually escapes the Rainbow Facility, other than me and Dawn." Spark answered calmly.

"Well, surely you tried to tell a public official of some sort?" Carolman tried to understand.

"Of course! We reached out to as many as we could, but nobody believed us." insisted Spark.

"Well, Congress has already agreed to aide you in your plight." explained Carolman.

"Are those your advisors?" asked Spark confusedly.

"To put shortly, yes," Carolman replied, "We can send forces for you to use at your disposal."

"Are you sure we'll need much support?" questioned Spark.

"From what I can tell, yes. Tell me, when did you last check on your home?"

"Uh… four or five weeks, I guess. Why?" Spark said unsurely.

"Perhaps you should check up on your kind again, just in case," suggested Carolman, "You can cal me back on this number." Spark took a scrap paper from the nearest desk and scribbled down the president's number.

"Thank you for your support, Mr. Carolman. I'll be sure to check on the fliers before calling again."

"Pleasure meeting you, Ms. Taller." With these words, he hung up.

"Well, now that I've spoken with the U.S President and all, I need to go home." Spark explained nonchalantly. She turned to Dawn.

"Can we just fly home? I miss my mom, and I'm sure you'd like to see your family, too."

"I never thought I'd ever want to see my parents' faces again, but I guess you're right. I said I'd stick with you until we beat Dash, so I stayed down here for a month, and I'm glad we can finally go home after all of this." Dawn agreed. Spark looked at Peter.

"Thanks for all of your help, Peter. This isn't goodbye; Dawn and me will be back down in a few days. I'm not sure I'll be able to contact the president using cloud-to-ground reception." Spark joked. Everyone laughed weakly. Spark hugged Peter and bid him a farewell.

"See you later, Peter!" Dawn called over her shoulder as she and Spark exited the building.

"Okay, let's go then!" Spark said, opening her wings. Dawn mimicked her. They both shot up into the sky in unison. Groundies watched in awe as they disappeared unto the endless blue, and they cheered wildly for Manchester's heroes.

Spark and Dawn burst over a cloud as they soared towards Airchester. Spark became overjoyed with the thought of seeing her home again. Her family, her friends, everything was waiting for her.

About 10 minutes later, Spark new Airchester was close. She and Dawn glided under a cloud, but suddenly noticed that things were dead quiet. They landed near the gate and noticed that the sign had letters missing, and it read,

_**WE COM TO IRC E TE**_

"I hate people who do that," mumbled Dawn as they passed through the gate. Spark looked down the street, and her heart nearly stopped.

Airchester had been destroyed. The city smelled dreadful, and crumbled buildings were emitting steam.


	2. Sorrow

"What… what happened?" Spark asked herself in horror. The wonderful, big, booming city of Airchester – gone, just like that.

Suddenly, a flier emerged from the ruins of a building. He stumbled out into the street and collapsed, coughing steam and blood. Spark immediately rushed over to aid him.

"Are you okay?"

The man sputtered unintelligibly.

"Um…" Dawn was on her way.

"Shelling… need… leave…" he uttered a few words.

"Who was shelling Airchester?" Dawn asked. The injured flier blinked rapidly. Spark put her hands on his gushing wound and felt the warm blood soak her.

"Rebels… weapon… seize, government!"

"We need to get you some help!" cried Spark.

"Soon…! Again, siege…" He closed his eyes and breathed his last. Dawn and Spark stood from their crouched positions.

"What did you get from that?" Dawn asked, her voice in a ghostly whisper.

"I think he said that a rebel group is overthrowing the government, taking their weapons, and they're beginning a second –" Spark explained, but she was cut off by a roaring sound. Spark looked just in time to see a bombshell catapult towards her and her friend. She threw Dawn away and the explosion launched her backwards into a destroyed building, and she hit her head on some fortified clouds. Her vision swam uncomfortably, and her head felt splitting pain. Dawn ran over to Spark and helped her up.

"We've got to get of here!" There was a massive hole in the middle of the street where the shell landed.

"No! I think Dash is behind this rebel nonsense! We need to head where the shells are coming from." insisted Spark.

Suddenly, a loudspeaker echoed through Airchester's ruins.

"We have an excess weapon storage at our hands. Evacuate your ruined homes, now. There is no more for you here. From here, stragglers will be killed on sight. You have five minutes."

Dawn turned to Spark, her eyes wide with shock.

"We don't have much time," Spark declared, "Let's get going."

Suddenly, a group of people began to appear as they limped or jogged down the street to the exit.

_At least there are more survivors than I thought,_ Spark thought to herself.

"Spark?" Dawn was already running up the street, "Come on!" Spark nodded and climbed through the wreckage of the building she had been in, and then caught up with Dawn.

"You two are going the wrong way!"

"Are you trying to get yourselves killed?"

"Where are you guys going?"

Fliers pelted Dawn and Spark with questions on their intentions, but they shrugged them off with offhand remarks, such as "I don't care," or, "It's none of your concern."

There was an alarm raised suddenly, and it rang around the town loudly before it was cut off, and the dark voice took over again.

"Your time is up, Airchester scum. If you haven't left yet, you will be destroyed."

"We're out of time," Dawn said, "Split up! They can't get us both at the same time!" Spark nodded and dashed across the street.

A ground troop of rebels marched down the street, followed by three tanks. Deciding it was a sizable distance before they were in earshot, Spark called to Dawn.

"Use the buildings as cover!"

The rebel at the front of the troop stopped and listen for a moment. He turned around an pointed at the building from which he thought he had heard Spark. Fortunately, he was wrong.

The tank fired and obliterated the building that was next to Spark's. There wasn't even a sign it had been there just moments ago.

The rebel at the front of the group, most likely the general, shrugged and the rebels continued their forward march.

Spark sprinted over where the building used to be and leapt into the next. She turned to the other side of the street to see where Dawn was, but she was nowhere to be seen. Spark frowned. Where had she gone?

Shrugging it off, almost certain Dawn was okay, she jumped over the remains of the next building.

"There!" Spark bit her lip, realizing she had been seen. She took cover and braced for another tank shot, but to her surprise, it hadn't shot at her. There was an explosion on the other side of the street and she saw Dawn get flung from the bright fire. She landed feet first, but stumbled and fell forward. The general stared at her for a few moments. The rebels stared at her, too, arms readied. Spark didn't know why she hadn't been "killed on sight" like they had threatened.

The general tapped into some device in his cap. He gestured for the rebels to put their weapons away.

"Take her in."

Now was the time to act.

Spark vaulted over a crumbled doorframe to the tank, which seemed inactive and inattentive to her movements. She sprinted around the back and flew to the top. Spark forced the hatch open and jumped in.

"What was that?" Spark kneeled as she landed with a loud _CLANG._ As she recovered and stood up, she found herself staring down the barrel of a pistol.

"Uh…" Spark looked up slowly and put her hands behind her head. A rebel approached her from behind and hit the back of her head with his gun. Spark nearly blacked out, and she knew she had to think, quickly.

She ducked down and kicked the rebel in front of her, sweeping him off his feet. Spark wheeled her legs around and knocked out the other rebel's legs. His pistol flew into the air, and Spark grabbed it with one of her free hands. The first one was so caught of guard that he had no time to cushion his fall, and was knocked out on impact of the ground. The other rebel, however, managed to stay conscious. Spark quickly stomped on his face. She walked through the door, pistol ready. Seconds later, she found herself in the control room, with three people staring clueless at their monitors.

_Wap, wap, wap._ They were all dead before they knew what was going on.

The tank disabled, Spark jumped out of the hatch and swooped down through the troops of rebels and saw the general restraining an unconscious Dawn. Recklessly, she barreled into him, knocking him clean over.

Spark didn't land too well, either. She skidded to a halt at the edge of Airchester. The rebels raised their arms, but the general told them to steady them.

"Let her go!" yelled Spark.

"Now, why would I do that?" taunted the general.

"Why don't you have your little soldiers kill me now?" Spark asked.

"They don't fire before being fired upon, unless instructed otherwise." The general smiled at his answer. Spark knew he was bluffing, and that there was a personal reason about her and Dawn.

To prove her point, she shot a rebel standing by the edge of Airchester in the shoulder and he fell off screaming. He did not resurface. The troop remained still.

"Care to tell me the real reason now?"

"It's a bit complicated for a stupid girl like you to understand, so I'll shorten it." spat the general. Spark bit her lip.

"Leader's orders. Caronis says we're not allowed to kill the two fliers who like you, so we're taking you."

"You haven't taken me yet."

"Yet." The general nodded. The front line of rebels extended their arms and claws shot out, constricting Spark. Together, they pulled her closer. Spark strained and struggled to break free.

"You should watch out for yourself, Ms. Taller. That mouth of yours can get you into some serious trouble, you know." The general shot his own claw and the rebels released theirs. Under his other wrist was another hook-claw, which grabbed Dawn. He tapped into his voice-com and tried to reach the tank managers, but got no response from the dead rebels. Spark smiled at the general, whose lip curled in a furious snarl.

"Scour the streets! Leave no survivors!" the general commanded the rebels. He turned to Spark.

"I'll deal with you two." With these words, the general opened his wings. They were the largest wings Spark had ever seen. He took a leap off of the clouds, and Spark and Dawn were pulled in after him.

Spark wasn't sure if the general was aware that she was still armed with the pistol she had acquired from the tank. She fired once.

The claws almost instantly retracted and Spark fell. The general swore loudly and Spark started to shoot at Dawn's restraints, but both her and Dawn were moving.

Suddenly, the cold steel of the general's free claw collided with Spark's head. Dark spots appeared over her vision, and the pistol fell from her hands. Spark's eyelids couldn't stay open. She tried to open her wings, but she couldn't –

Spark forced her eyes open to see the general and Dawn on the horizon.

"Dawn…" She was a hundred miles from the ground still. Spark tried her best to accelerate down. She touched down on the warm grass in the middle of a field with no civilization in sight, collapsed onto the ground and everything went dark.

~O~

To her surprise, Spark did not awake in a hospital. She came to in the same spot she had fallen. It was late in the night now, and the sky was lit with stars. It was a full moon, which illuminated the field. Spark itched uncomfortably. She rolled over in the dirt, too tired to stand up. Her breathing was heavy.

Almost half an hour later, she re-stabilized and stood up and brushed herself off, but it didn't clean her much.

_Dawn._ Tears rolled onto Spark's grimy face. She had been taken away.

_What are they going to do with her?_

Spark began walking, but she wasn't too sure where to. Something the general said had stuck in her mind, and was bugging her.

"Caronis said we're not allowed to kill the two fliers who look like you."

That sentence both confirmed and destroyed her theory that Dash was behind the rebel uprising. Who was Caronis?

Spark was deeply troubled with the thought of having two nemeses in clouds, but was comforted with being able to escape to the groundies. She hoped that much would never change.

Spark walked for over an hour, deep in thought, and then decided that she need to get home and tell her mother everything, whether she would believe her or not.

As she soared up, she began to plan out her story to relay to her mom. It was still dark; maybe it was two in the morning. But all of this could not wait until later.

Spark recognized the milestone that signified to her that she almost home. After over two months, she'd be back where she belonged. It was saddening for her to think that with all of the going-ons, it was only temporary.

Once Spark's house came into view, her heart skipped a beat.

Just like Airchester, it had been destroyed.

"No!" Spark swooped down to the wreckage and through the still standing, but horribly damaged doorframe, landing smoothly and sliding to a stop.

Bits and pieces of clouds were strewn about. Steam was rising, and Spark was in shock. She tried to fight tears, but couldn't. She fell to her knees and sobs racked her body. The only real home she had, and now she didn't have that.

Spark rummaged furiously through the piles of cloud rubble. Maybe she could salvage something –

Spark thrust her hand through a mountainous stack of it and hit something cold. She suddenly felt sick, wondering what it could be. Mustering all of her strength, Spark pulled.

The thing sprung out of the wreckage and Spark leapt back, waiting for the steam to clear. Her mouth dropped and she fell backwards, and backed away on all fours. She was mortified at was she was staring at.

Spark's mother lied on the floor, mouth agape with open, horrified eyes. Her skin was pale and she had gashes all over her body, dried with blood.

"No…" Spark kept backing away. This couldn't be…

Spark was breathing quickly – her head hurt, her stomach ached. Everything was in pain. She felt like she was going to explode. For a moment, she thought she was about to pass out.

Spark's mom… she couldn't be dead.

_How? Why? Who? _Questions jetted through her mind, and they could all easily be answered. Dash had done this.

After about a minute, Spark crawled over to her body and shook her.

"Mom…" Spark croaked, "Mom, wake up." But her mom did not move. She kept staring sightlessly into the ceiling.

"Come on." Spark shook her mom faster.

"Get up!" She was shouting now. Tears rolled off her face and onto her mom. She shook her mother furiously and dropped her, curling up and putting her eyes into her palms, sobbing relentlessly.

It stung to realize that her mom was probably worried sick about Spark's disappearance when she had left after an argument. Now Spark was responsible for her death by defying Dash.

"This is all my fault…"

~O~

Spark stayed by the body of her mother until six in the morning, trying to process that she'd never talk to her mom again. She cried until she could cry no ore. She started gather bits of clouds and covering her mother with them. Once Spark had almost finished, she took the last piece of a cloud, kissed it, and covered up the rest of her mom's face with it. She began walking towards the doorframe, but sopped herself and turned around to look at her mom's burial spot.

"Goodbye…" Spark started walking again, but turned once more.

"I never said it enough, but I love you." said Spark. She looked up through the destroyed ceiling. She was choking back more tears at this point.

"Mom!" she called to the high heavens, "If you can hear me, I love you!"

Spark couldn't stay in that house any longer without breaking down. She sprinted outside and realized she had no Dawn and no mother.

Spark was utterly alone in the world.

It was sunrise, and Spark had been up almost all night.

Then it occurred to her that she wasn't completely alone. She still had Peter.

Spark jumped from the edge of her ruined house and began plummeting to the ground. At this point, she was so tired and upset that she could barely keep her eyes open. It began to rain.

Once Spark landed in Manchester, it felt like it was torrential downpour beating down upon her. She had never had much experience with rain, as usually only the bottom level of clouds actually rain water. But she certainly didn't like rain.

It was seven now, and Spark was slowly walking towards the Manchester Post's building and saw a figure walking in with an umbrella.

"Peter?" called Spark weakly. The person stopped.

"Is that you, Peter?" She started walking faster, although it was a struggle. The person waited for her. Spark's vision was blurred, so she couldn't tell who it was until she was up close.

Fortunately, it was Peter.

"Spark!" he exclaimed, "What's wrong? Where's Dawn?"

"I –" stuttered Spark, "I'm – uh –"

"I've lost my head," Peter disciplined himself, "Come inside! You look exhausted." He escorted her in and gave her his coat. Spark's teeth were chattering. She was numb in most of her extremities. Her clothes were drenched and she was forming a small puddle on the floor.

"I – there's –" Spark couldn't form a sentence. She fell forwards onto Peter and fell asleep.


	3. Cooperation

When Spark awoke, she was in a bed again.

_Hospitals… _

Wait. This was no hospital.

Spark sat up and got out of bed, putting her shoes on. Her clothes were warm and comfortable. She observed the strange room.

It seemed well kept. It had yellow painted walls, a rather large bed and two small dressers, accompanied by a nightstand.

Then it occurred to Spark that this was probably a guest room in Peter's house.

She stepped out into the hallway and quickly went down the wooden stairs and out the door, where the streets of Manchester met her.

Spark realized the house was probably far from the Manchester Post, and Peter probably wanted an explanation for last night. It seemed about noon-ish, so she decided to fly down to his building to contact him.

When she slipped through the doors, Spark noticed a flight of stairs she remembered Peter being on a long while ago. She decided Peter would probably have an office up there.

As Spark walked down the hallway, she saw employees and machines doing work, printing newspapers. She was quite impressed by the orderliness.

Once she realized she was at the door, she knocked softly and Peter answered it.

"Come in," Peter said, opening the door wider.

"Okay," Spark responded. She sat in a cushioned green chair and waited for Peter, who sat at his desk.

"So," Spark started awkwardly, "Should I explain last night?"

"Yeah, probably." replied Peter.

Spark began telling Peter her tale about the rebels, Dawn being captured, her mother's death, and the new, mysterious Caronis figure leading the opposition. She frequently choked up and had to pause when she relayed the parts about her mother and Dawn.

"Oh, no," Peter said, "Now you're not safe at all up there?"

"Exactly," confirmed Spark, "And I don't even have Dawn's help."

"Should I publish this story, too?" asked Peter.

"No, you don't need to," replied Spark, waving her hand dismissively, "I need to talk about this with Carolman again."

"Again?" Peter inquired, "You do know that it's not the easiest thing to get in touch with the most powerful man in the country, right? Just call him.

"Oh…" Spark had lost the paper in the chaos of the last day.

"I don't have his number anymore."

Peter sighed.

"I need to speak with him in person, then." Spark decided

"Well, you'd have to schedule an appointment first," explained Peter, "But that could take weeks, or even months. Not many people can meet with the president in person."

"I don't have that kind of time," persisted Spark, "Towns are being destroyed as we speak, most likely. I need his help now." She stood up.

"What are you planning to do?" inquired Peter with a touch of worry and anger in his voice.

"I'm going to schedule my own appointment." daunted Spark.

"What?" Peter leapt out of his seat and stopped Spark, who was walking out of the room.

"You heard me," spat Spark.

"Trust me, Spark, you could be making your most powerful ally into your enemy," Peter said warningly, "Don't be stupid!"

"I'm not stupid!" Spark insisted through gritted teeth, "I know what I'm doing." She broke free of Peter's grip defiantly.

"I don't think you do," called Peter as Spark walked down the hallway and the stairs. He followed her slowly.

"I'm not getting behind you on this!" Spark didn't respond. She flung the door open and Peter shouted from the top of the stairs,

"Do you even know where you're going?"

Spark didn't turn around.

~O~

Spark flew south after asking some civilians where the president was, but didn't understand why they thought that Spark would know which 'White House' Carolman would be in.

She stopped at nine and bought a hotel room for one night. According to the Manchester citizens, Delaware was close to the 'Washington' place where she could find Carolman.

Her wings ached from flying for almost nine hours straight, and she had frequently felt like sleeping during her trip.

The room she bought was cheap and shanty, but it had a bed, and that was all she really needed.

Spark kicked off her shoes, fell on the bed, and fell asleep while still dressed.

~O~

When Spark awoke early in the morning, she went downstairs for breakfast. She nabbed a biscuit and some fruits and was on her way. Spark knew she was almost at her destination. Her wings were still a bit sore from yesterday's flight, but Spark figured she would be fine.

She spent the majority of the trip flying low and letting groundies watch her fly about.

Spark's heart ached for Dawn. She wondered if Dawn was still alive. Horrifying thoughts flashed through her head. She could not lose Dawn as she had lost her mom.

And what about Peter? Why was he so against Spark's ideas?

_The nerve of that boy… _Spark shook her head angrily just thinking about him.

A monument that resembled some groundy writing tool appeared on the horizon. From what she had gathered, this was a sign she had almost made it to the president's house.

Unfortunately, there was more than one white house.

Spark landed in an alley as to not stir up suspicion and walked out into the busy streets. She stopped someone and asked them,

"Hey, is this Washington D.C?"

"Eeyup." The man, expectedly, had a different accent than the people from Manchester.

"Which one of these white houses has the president in it?" inquired Spark casually. The man stared at her for a second, then chuckled.

"You're serious."

"Yeah, I don't see why you'd think I wouldn't be –"

"Are you even from this country? If not, you hide your accent pretty well." the stranger conceded.

"Well, I live up in Manchester," Spark lied.

"Oh," said the man acceptingly, "Well, the White House in an actual landmark. It's not _a _White House, it's _the _White House."

"Ah," Spark realized, "Where is it, and what does it look like?"

"It's a mile or two that way," the citizen explained, gesturing appropriately, "It's big, it's got a dome head, sort of, and some columns. You'll recognize it."

The description wasn't the best, but it was good enough.

"Alright, thanks!" said Spark gratefully. She sprung up into the sky as everyone watched in surprise, and Spark flew away.

A few minutes later, Spark saw what she recognized as the White House. She did not hesitate to land on the roof, though as soon as she did, she wondered if it was legal.

But right now, the law was such a small thing.

Spark walked to the edge and looked over. Under the ledge she was standing on, there was a small balcony with a door, and some men in black suits. Spark frowned and tried to think of some way to get them away.

When she thought of a plan, she didn't like it. Growing up with wings, Spark had never enjoyed falling without control. But she knew this was necessary.

Spark took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Then she fell forward.

She let out a short-lived scream and then an _oomph_ sound in her smallest audible voice.

From the agents' point of view, they had just witnessed a girl fall from the top of the White House and heard her land. They both ran inside.

Spark waited to hear the door close before flying up from under the balcony she had grabbed at the last second and walking through the door. She knew her distraction wouldn't last long, so she had to find Carolman quickly.

She jogged down the hallways and searched every room for the president.

Spark opened a door that had a gold plaque on it that said,

_OVAL OFFICE._

She opened the door, and sitting behind a desk was who Spark assumed was Carolman.

"Uhm…" Spark started hesitantly. Carolman jumped, obviously surprised.

"Who are you, and how did you get in here?" Carolman stood up with a fire in his eyes. Spark backed away defensively with her hands up.

"It's me, Spark! Spark Taller!" she re-introduced herself. The president eased some, but still seemed alert.

"Well, that answers one question," Carolman said, "but how did you get in here unescorted?"

"I, uh… distracted your men." Spark fabricated, biting her lip.

"Secret service these days…" Carolman sighed, shaking his head and looking down. A few seconds later, he looked back up to Spark.

"You do realize that it's illegal to break into the White House, correct?"

"Yeah…" Spark shuffled her feet, ashamed.

"And that you just admitted to intentionally breaking the law to the U.S president?" Carolman continued, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup…" Spark started at the ground awkwardly. Carolman shrugged and sat down.

"I'll let it slide this time, I suppose." Spark looked back up, relieved, and got a good look at Carolman.

He wasn't nearly as old as he sounded. Carolman looked like he was in his late thirties with light brown hair and pale-like skin. He was wearing a black suit, like his agents. He had shockingly bright blue eyes.

"What are you here for, Ms. Taller?" asked the president, scribbling words on a contract and putting it on a pile, "I'm a bit busy right now."

"It's about the whole Union of Fliers dilemma…" started Spark.

"As I suspected," Carolman interjected, "News on Dash, I assume?"

"No, actually," Spark explained, "It's something else. A rebel uprising."

Carolman stopped writing and looked up at Spark with a disturbed calamity in his eyes.

"And you're sure this Dash character isn't behind this rebellion?" asked Carolman.

"I'm almost positive."

"Care to elaborate, then?" said Carolman compellingly.

"Dawn and I ran into a general in a destroyed Airchester, and he said something about his leader who they call 'Caronis.'"

"Couldn't that just be a codename for Dash, though?" Carolman pointed out.

"Yes, but after I thought about it, I realized something. The rebels were obviously looking for us. They told us before they took Dawn –" Spark's words caught in her throat. She held herself steady and tried not to break.

"Is Dawn still alive?" Carolman inquired bluntly.

"I'm not sure," Spark answered, her voice a barely audible whisper. She shivered and continued.

"When me and Dawn were there, they still called him Caronis, even though we already know that Dash isn't the superstar the public makes him out to be."

"I can see where you're coming from," Carolman replied, evaluating Spark's reasoning.

"And beside, Dash is far too proud of a man, if you could call him that, to go by a codename." Spark added.

"You seem to have given this a bit of thought –"

"How couldn't I have?" interrupted Spark.

"As I was saying, why do you think Dash would start a rebellion?" asked Carolman.

"Dash was never pleased with anything," Spark had answer already, "The more he got, the more he wanted. He took his Rainbow Facility workers and began an onslaught for more power."

"Alright…" Carolman said, "And what do you want me to do about this?"

"Nothing yet…" Spark answered, "I think I need to gather more information before I really ask you to do anything. But I'm assuming I'll need some of those flying groundy machines you use in wars and stuff. Those people flying them have caused fliers a lot of trouble, crashing into clouds and things…" Spark frowned.

"Is there any way that I could contact you without flying all the way down to this White House?" asked Spark, exaggerating her tiredness.

"A phone? I gave you my number before –" suggested Carolman.

"I lost my phone when I crash landed in Manchester in a taxi. I also lost your number, what with all of the Airchester chaos."

The president opened a drawer and pulled out what she recognized as money. She was glad to see that they used the same currency as fliers. He handed them to Spark, who recognized them as one hundred dollar bills.

"Uh… thanks."

"Go buy yourself something nice." He pulled out a piece of paper and something that looked like it had been laminated. Carolman started writing on the paper and ripped off the part that he had written on, then handed them both to Spark. One had ten digits on it, which Spark assumed was a phone number. The other was a card with big blue letters that read "V.I.P."

"Okay," Spark said gratefully, "How do I get out of here without getting in trouble?"

Carolman was already on it, opening a passageway that seemed liked it dropped into a garden, with a ladder.

"Why is this here?" asked Spark, climbing down.

"Emergency presidential escape," Carolman answered from above.

"Duly noted," said Spark, "Good-bye!"

"Bye then," Carolman returned the farewell, then shut the passageway.

Spark let go of the ladder and fell the rest of the way, landing sharply. She surveyed the Washington D.C place, and then took off into the sky. Spark didn't fly too far before landing. She had done far too much flying over the past few days. It had been almost five hundred miles.

Instead of landing on the ground, she decided to stop in the clouds. She had never before been to another section of the clouds before. Spark had spent her whole life up in Airchester, before her exam. She felt like she was some great explorer now, with all of the sights she had seen.

Spark walked around for a bit to find out what the cloud city was called, most likely named after the groundy Washington D.C.

Unsurprisingly, she was correct.

_CUMULUS D.C._ Spark shrugged and walked out into the busy, cloudy streets. She was so familiar, and the city quite reminded her of Airchester before its untimely demise.

Spark wandered for a while before finding somewhere to buy a phone. When she walked in, she found the most expensive phone she could and took it up to register. She wondered in her head how long the phone would last. Spark threw her cash onto the register with a very limited phone plan in mind.

The cashier shot Spark a strange look at her choices, but did not comment and facilitated her purchase.

Spark walked out of the phone shop and added Carolman's number immediately, knowing she would probably lose it soon enough. Spark tore the paper number by number and dropped them off the edge of the clouds, as not to leak the president's personal number.

She spent the rest of the day, exploring D.C, makings sure not to spend any of her pocket money. She needed to be able to rent a hotel room for the long flight tomorrow would bring. In preparation, she also made sure not to fly that day either.

Once it was eight, Spark chose an inn to crash in early. She walked into her one-night room and kicked off her red shoes, right against the wall opposite her bed. Spark hopped into bed and stared at the shoes, as they were the only things to look at. The more she stared at them, the more she thought about Peter and how much she missed him. Now wait, how she hated that scumbag who wouldn't help her. Spark enough, Spark rolled over and fell asleep with all of her day clothes still on.

~O~

When Spark awoke, she turned to her alarm clock to see that it was six. She knew she would have to get up soon, but all Spark wanted to do was revel about in her cloudy bed, which was far more comfortable than the groundy beds. Eventually, she rolled out of bed and got on her shoes. Spark was already dressed, thankfully. Before leaving her room, Spark looked into the mirror.

She seemed so different than she had been two or so months ago. Her arms were decorated with cuts and scars. She just looked grittier in general. And the expression on her face – had it always been that dark and solemn?

Spark shrugged off her self-examination, took her room key and dropped it in the basket at the front lobby desk.

She walked outside into the cool, brisk morning air and stood there for a second, letting it sweep over her.

As expected, Cumulus D.C wasn't nearly as busy at six as it was in its daylight hours. Some of the shops were already turning off their neon lights, though it wasn't very bright out yet.

Spark thought about what a nice place it was, but not a moment too long. She found herself at the edge of the main cloud mass for Cumulus, and jumped, soaring off towards the horizon, back home to Airchester.


	4. Interference

It was getting dark again as the ruins of Airchester appeared in the distance. Spark took the last bite of her Cloudtucky Fried Chicken and landed neatly in the middle of the damaged street.

Everything was silent. Now Airchester had been truly abandoned. The city seemed even more crumbled than the first time she had seen, most likely due to cloud decay.

Spark walked down the destroyed city's road, trying to identify the remains of buildings she had often visited in her youth. She was unsuccessful a majority of the time, because the pieces were too scrambled with too many unfamiliar bits.

Spark reached the end of the street and saw her old school, which had also been damaged. It had obviously abandoned; normally she would hear gleeful cries as fliers soared about, testing their abilities with their wings, alongside the anthem for their high school. As the tune went through her head, she opened her wings. They had always been instructed to do it when the song started. She quickly closed them, though.

It was hard to believe that her old, destroyed school had been named after a madman that had tried to kill her. She used to have so much pride in it.

Spark shook her head and noticed the two benches on either side of her. The one on her left was split in half. As Spark examined the one on her right, she recognized it as the one she and Spike waited on before they went to their exams. It was still completely intact, with no sign of any damage done to it. Spark was appalled. _This was some coincidence,_ she thought. She couldn't decide whether she was happy or sad about this.

Unable to make up her mind, Spark turned away.

It was so dark now, she couldn't see her hand a foot away from her face, and she didn't have a place to stay.

Spark thought of Manstratus, which was relatively close compared to the distance she had flown that day. But she felt like her wings were going to fall off if used anymore.

Spark walked down to where the cloudway was, and tried to pick which of the cars she would force herself onto. As far as her knowledge extended, this interstate cloudway led to Manstratus.

Eventually, she gave up on finding a suitable mobile, and lunged out to grab a large van-like one, which thankfully seemed not to notice her.

The van drove for ten minutes when Spark realized had activated its aerodynamic device and flew off the road in some other direction, with her still tagging along on the back. For a moment, Spark was tempted to abandon the brown van and fly back to the road to find a different ride, but she was far too curious to do so. Perhaps her sense of adventure was getting the best of her; maybe in a bad way now.

It had been almost half an hour since the car had started free flying, but it still hadn't arrived. Spark had seen no signs of civilization since they left the road. Just as she was about to jump off and fly all the way back, a light appeared in the distance, out of some sort of iron building. Ever since Spark had been to the ground, she trusted iron a lot more. She pledged to herself that if this wasn't the stop, she would leave.

But alas, the van pulled up next to the building and had a horrible recognization of the factory as the Rainbow Facility.

Spark was almost paralyzed with fear, and strongly considered leaving. But why would this van be here?

Spark waited for the driver to step out after quietly positioning herself over the door. Whoever she was, she couldn't be doing any good here.

The driver's door swung open, and the woman stepped out. Spark leapt off of the car and onto her head, knocking her over. She cried out, but spark quickly silenced her by snapping her neck.

~O~

As Spark stepped out of the back of the van, she realized how baggy the woman's clothes were on her. When she examined her identification card, she found she was an executive of some company that Spark had never heard of. Her name was Vex Frey, and she was the "Keeper of the Keys."

Spark stepped through the metal doors into the cold iron factory and instantly felt sick, remembering how clueless she had been when she came her for the first time. How excited she had been when she found out she would be meeting Dash.

A few of the guards passed Spark and nodded. Spark kept her head down and her name card obvious.

Luckily, nobody questioned her as she traversed the halls of the Rainbow Facility. Spark searched for something to prove or disprove that Dash was Caronis. She wandered aimlessly around and before long, Spark found herself in a room that had monitors stretching from wall to wall. The room was seemingly lifeless, so she decided to examine the screens.

They all appeared to be normal security cameras that were positioned in various hallways in the facility, all with inscriptions beneath the monitors reading their precise locations in the building.

Spark looked to a different wall to see all of the screens on the right wall were of prison cells. They were all quite similar, but they had their differences. Spark was able to identify her old cell as E42. She grimaced at the memory of her sleepless night, just after Spike had been killed.

Spark bit her lip and continued observing the screens. There were a few cells that had fliers in them, also having a similar experience to Spark's.

Her eyes scrolled up and down the wall and suddenly, she bitten her lip so hard she drew blood.

_Dawn._

Spark's eyes widened with joy. Dawn was huddled in a corner with a blanket, probably sleeping. _Hopefully_ she was sleeping.

_Cell D24._

"Good evening, Frey." A voice emanated from behind Spark. She turned around to look into the eyes of Dash Mallus. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Evening to you, too." Spark said casually, in a deeper tone than she usually spoke.

"May I ask what you're up to?" Dash inquired, pacing around the room. Spark didn't trace him with her eyes, but instead continued to stare at the doorway from which he came.

"Ju – just ensuring the security and checking on the prisoners." Spark stuttered, fearing the wrong answer would betray her disguise.

"Fair enough," Dash answered, and Spark quietly sighed in relief, "But I have better plans."

Spark felt Dash put his hands around her waist and his head over her shoulder.

"How about you come back to my room with me?"

Spark had to stop herself from gagging.

"No, Dash. Don't you ever ask me such a rude question again." Spark answered emphatically.

"Well," Dash said, disappointed. Spark turned to the screens again to look at Dawn's cell.

"How did you get this one?" asked Spark, wondering if this could be her proof that Dash and Caronis were one in the same.

"Stole her," answered Dash. He turned to Spark, and asked,

"Do you recognize her?"

Spark wasn't sure whether to say yes or no. She had no clue if Frey had worked here when she and Dawn had escaped.

"Yes," Spark replied, "Wasn't she one of the escapees?"

"I'm glad you remember," said Dash, "She was kidnapped by the rebels, but I broke in and got her for myself."

"And what of her friend, the first to escape?" inquired Spark riskily, referring to herself.

Dash muttered an obscenity.

"That one is elusive. She's evaded death numerous times now. What a shame the rebels couldn't get her as well. I could've had two for one."

"Do you have any ideas of her whereabouts?" Spark asked, holding her breath.

"No," replied Dash, "But I don't need to."

"And why is that?"

"This girl and her are in on something together. Destroying me is their primary goal. Spark won't be able to do this alone, so she'll come eventually."

Spark hadn't realized how true that it was until now.

"And there are groundies helping that brat now, and I know it!" Dash scowled angrily.

"Why do you think Caronis took this girl?" inquired Spark, changing the subject nervously.

"No doubt, to hold it over me," responded Dash, "We're at war, me and Caronis. It's a secret war, where nobody knows that _we_ exist. And _that…_ is our advantage."

"I see," Spark said.

_The lesser of two evils… _Spark thought bitterly.

"Well, I believe I've poked into this far enough," Spark said casually, opening the door, "I'm going to retire to my bedroom now."

"Goodnight, Vex." Spark closed the door behind her and exhaled heavily, thoroughly relieved.

_CELL D24._

Where were the prison blocks?

Spark wandered about the Rainbow Facility, her stomach lurching around every turn with memories. She felt sick.

After almost twenty minutes, she stumbled upon the prison cells, and wondered how she was going to get Dawn out.

Spark then remembered that Vex Frey was the Keeper of the Keys.

She thrust her hand into the pocket of Frey's jacket and found the ring of keys as she made her way down to cellblock D.

"14… 15… 16…" Spark muttered to herself as she read the numbers.

"24." Surely enough, there was Dawn, in the corner, just like she had been in the security tapes. Spark took the key that had the letter D inscribed on it and unlocked Dawn's cell and shook her companion awake.

"Get up, scum." Spark needed their escape to be as discrete as possible, so she needed Dawn to be as clueless as she could be.

"Wha – what?" Dawn stuttered. She was far more pale than when Spark had last seen her.

"Midnight execution. Don't worry, you won't be missed." Spark tugged Dawn to her feet and escorted her down the hallway.

"This isn't the way to the Rainbow Room…"

"I'm aware." Spark stopped herself from flinching at the words, 'Rainbow Room.' Horribly enough, Dawn knew which way the room was.

"Who are you, anyways?" Dawn asked groggily.

"Vex Frey, Keykeeper. You can just call me your executioner, though." replied Spark roughly.

After five more minutes of being lost, a voice came over the loudspeaker of the facility.

"Vex Frey's body has been discovered. There is an imposter among us. Kill Vex Frey on sight." Dash's voice was recognizable. Then the alarms went off, the sounds echoing off the walls and the red lights flaring about wildly.

"Wait…" Dawn stopped. Spark turned around and threw Frey's cap down on the ground and removed her uniform, back down to her original clothes, taking Frey's set of keys.

"Cover's blown," muttered Spark.

"Spark?"

"There's not time to explain, we need to go!" Spark cried. The two fliers broke out into a sprint down the hallways. Adrenaline pumped through Spark's veins.

"Right! Right!" yelled Dawn as they came to an intersection, and they came to an intersection, and they found themselves in the Rainbow Room.

And on cue, the announcements were decreed.

"The two undesirables are cornered in the Rainbow Room. Get them."

It was true. There was no apparent escape route. Spark looked to the window she had first exited through with a glimmer of hope, but to her dismay it had been boarded up. The massive security door that Dawn had described in her story so long ago was sealed shut tightly on the opposite side of the room.

"What do we do?" Spark asked to Dawn, who was great at thinking on her feet.

"I don't know!" Dawn cried. The doors opened and guards filed in, weapons ready. Dawn ran to the security door and tried desperately to guess the pin number. Suddenly, she realized there was also a keyhole.

"Keys!" shrieked Dawn.

"Freeze! Put your hands up!" yelled one of the guards. Spark swung her arms upwards with the keys in her hand and launched them back to Dawn, keeping her hands in the air. Dawn caught them in her left hand and jammed the key into the lock, which caused the door to slowly begin to open.

"Don't move!" More commands spouted from the guard's mouth as the door opened.

"Don't even think about it!" Dawn froze, too, and put her hands up like Spark. Spark wasn't sure if the guards were about to kill her or not.

Her question was answered by a bullet streaking by her head. Spark spun around like lightning and took to the air. Dawn ran through the security door, which had started to close.

Shots whizzed past Spark, who flipped and maneuvered to make their shots harder to hit her. The door was six feet from closing, and Spark was ten feet away.

She accelerated to the best of her ability and slid under the door, nearly being crushed by its massive entirety. Dawn helped Spark to her feet ad they ran towards the exit. Guards ran out of various doors behind Dawn and Spark as they sprinted towards the doorway to freedom. More personnel appeared before their eyes, blocking the exit.

Spark barreled through one with ease and made it out, but Dawn was stopped by the other. Spark threw off the security man and shoved him into a wall. Dawn leapt to her feet and ran outside with Spark, guards still in hot pursuit. The two found themselves at the edge of the cloud, nowhere to go.

"Jump!" called Spark. And they did.

The two fell for a while. Spark flipped to look up at the sky, and she was glad to see they were no longer being chased.

Dawn and Spark landed in a field with a few of Manchester's tallest buildings twenty or so miles away, and dropped down into the grass on their backs, panting heavily. They rolled over, looked at each other and stopped breathing so loudly.

"Man, I almost had a stealthy rescue, too."

They laughed. They laughed until their chests hurt and they were coughing. Spark was so glad to have Dawn back, and Dawn was happy to be alive and free.

Once the laughter died down, they both laid there on the ground, entirely silent. Eventually, Dawn spoke,

"You're going to have to catch me up on things."

Spark and Dawn stood up, looking around to rediscover their Manchester landmark. It was late now, and the noises of the surrounding wildlife were suddenly extremely apparent.

As they flew back, Spark explained what she had done on her own, which mainly consisted of finding the body of her mother (which noticeably made her more sad), speaking with Carolman, her issues with Peter and disproving that Dash and Caronis were the same person.

They stopped at a hotel and rented a one-night room. Dawn was profoundly not fond of having two nemeses in her home country.

"This is a real issue," Dawn said as the two fliers walked down the carpeted hallway, "Two powerful enemies up there means we can't go up there too frequently without a plan. Speaking of which, do you have one?"

"A what?" Spark asked, unlocking their door.

"A plan. Any sort of plan to fight one of these guys?"

"No. I'm still thinking. Carolman said he would be providing some support for us, so we've got that going for us," Spark explained, "And that reminds me, I need to call Carolman." She looked at the clock. 10:45. It didn't seem too farfetched to call now.

Spark sat down on her bed and listened to the phone ring, and eagerly awaited the president's answer.

"Hello?"

"President Carolman?" Spark started, "It's Spark."

"Well, you caught me at an opportune time. I was just about to turn in for the night." said Carolman.

"I've found Dawn and saved her," explained Spark, "And during that operation, I found out that Dash is _definitely_ not Caronis. Dash said himself that Caronis was his enemy, and that they were at war with each other. But I need to tell you something."

"And what would that be?" Carolman asked.

"Dash also said that I had groundy allies, so you may need to up your security measures –" Spark said warningly.

"I assure you, I am safe and sound here." Carolman interrupted.

"Really?" Spark asked sarcastically, "I found it was quite easy to get into your office."

Carolman was quiet for a moment.

"I guess, if you insist, I can request more security –"

Spark heard a door swing open on Carolman's end of the line.

"Who –?" There was a loud bag; it sounded like a gunshot, and Spark jumped, startled. Dawn evidently heard it, too, and leapt out of bed, over to Spark and tried to listen.

There was a clattering sound, and a few moments of silence. Suddenly, there was a swooping noise.

"You were in the middle of a call with him? How quaint." Spark recognized Dash's cold voice. Before Spark could respond, Dash cut in again.

"That was some stunt you pulled at my residence. Well, you won't have to deal with him anymore. Useless groundy." There was a slumping sound, accompanied by a splashing noise. Spark felt sick imagining Dash rolling Carolman's body into a pool of his own blood.

"It seems everything is in order here." Spark turned to Dawn, who looked just as horrorstruck as she was as there was a click, and the dial tone rang.


	5. Tragedy

Spark found it hard to sleep that night. She had lost her most powerful ally.

But she felt so selfish. Carolman probably had a family, and would be missed by his country…

In the morning, Spark rolled groggily out of bed. Dawn soon followed. For the first time, Spark woke up before Dawn.

When the pair entered the lobby, the TV screens showed multiple news stations spewing information about Carolman's death, which was no surprise to Spark.

They checked out of their hotel and flew up to the clouds. They hadn't spoken a word to each other the whole morning.

Dawn broke the silence over their breakfast and coffee.

"We can't just stay in a slum, Spark. We may have lost Carolman, but we have to strike back."

"I just don't see how you can be so optimistic…" Spark mumbled.

"I keep my head high. Chin up." Dawn said encouragingly. She paused for a moment.

"You've lost so much, Spark. I know you're not about to let that all be in vain."

Spark was resting her head on the table and shuddered with the truth of Dawn's words. She had lost Spike, her mother, Carolman, and Peter's friendship. How could she be letting the one who did this to her get away?

Spark sat up and spoke.

"Who are we going after first, then?"

"That's the Spark I know." Dawn said, smiling, "Dash, I guess. Caronis has a whole army at his disposal."

"And how do you propose we do that?" asked Spark skeptically.

Dawn frowned.

"I haven't quite thought that out yet."

"Well, they're probably less susceptible to espionage now, because of our little stunt last night. So that option's out." reasoned Spark sullenly.

"That was pretty much our only option."

"Ever heard of direct assault?"

"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Dawn, "There's only two of us! We have no weapons, no support, no nothing! That would never work in a million years!"

"Well, I don't think Peter can _un-_publish a newspaper article. We could show all sorts of people up in the clouds of Dash's treachery, now with proof."

"Of course!" exclaimed Dawn, "We should get right on that, then." She took a hearty, satisfied sip of coffee.

Spark's eyes widened as the TV behind Dawn's head, which she had barely acknowledged before stopped displaying news of Carolman's assassination, and instead displayed static. Dawn, who didn't see this, didn't react.

Suddenly, the static feed disappeared and showed a view of a large, shouting crowd in front of a noose, which looked to be in the middle of the street. Behind the noose, there was a building. Everybody in the café was watching now, except for Dawn. To Spark, the building in the background looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on why. The cameraman seemed to be part of the rambunctious crowd.

A man appeared on the gallows, dragging someone by a rope. The one tied up by the rope appeared to be unconscious.

"Today, you stand as witnesses to the punishments of this criminal!" The man dragging the rope began to speak. The crowd fell silent.

"This man has abused his powers to influence the citizens of this city for nothing but his own gain and amusement! But we aren't oblivious to his crimes, oh no! This very day, he will be punished for publishing such lies and slander!" the man cried.

Spark was confused and curious. The camera zoomed in on the building behind the noose. The doors were rattling and banging. The doors were evidently locked. Spark could see that the window had people in them. Their faces were pained and scared.

The speaker woke the unconscious man, and pulled him to his feet forcefully. Spark squinted and recognized the man tied up with the rope. It was Peter.

"We need to leave."

"What? I haven't finished my cof –"

"Now!" Spark grabbed Dawn's hand and ran out the door, down the street to Peter's newspaper press. She couldn't let Peter die.

When they got there, Peter already had the noose around his neck, facing his company. His hands were tied behind his back. The air reeked of gasoline. Spark's heart skipped a beat, until she realized that his feet were still on the ground.

Spark observed the crowd momentarily. She saw a crease in most of their backs. Groundies wouldn't recognize it, but Spark knew that was a sign of a flier's wings.

"Now," the executioner said, "I will give you one last chance. Will you deny your fake tales of winged people, sinister celebrities and these fantasy heroes, who apparently saved these people, though they clearly do not exist?" He turned around and folded his arms dramatically, and Spark saw the crease in his clothes. Dawn and Spark slowly pushed through the crowd.

"I will not tell a lie." Peter answered calmly. The executioner turned around, and Spark recognized him as the general who had kidnapped Dawn. Hatred surged through Spark, and she felt the sudden desire to catapult herself to him and wrap her hands around his throat.

But it raised a question: What did Caronis's men have to do with Peter?

"Then you are a traitor to these people, spreading these falsehoods. You have chosen death." concluded the general.

"You are the traitor, and by taking my life this day, you have chosen death, because I know that Spark and Dawn are out there, and they will destroy you, and all you stand for!" shouted Peter.

"Enough of your petty rambling!" the general yelled. He withdrew a single match and lit it, staring at the Manchester Post momentarily. The men's faces in the window were still desperate and distraught.

Then the gasoline stench made sense.

Spark could do nothing but watch as the general flicked the match at the building and it exploded into flames, the men still imprisoned within it.

Spark could see Peter's eyes burning with anguish. They locked with hers for a moment.

"Now, for you." Spark was shoving people out of the way, running through the crowd, with Dawn close behind. The general flipped a switch and the floor fell away. Peter fell, and the noose caught him. Spark heard the snap, and she knew it was over.

"_PETER!_"

Spark threw herself up onto the stage and pushed the general off. He pointed at Dawn and Spark.

"Grab them! They're his co-conspirators!" he cried.

Spark leapt over the gallows and tore the rope with Peter on it, taking Peter with her. The crowd was riled up, and began to pursue Spark and Dawn.

_If I can't save Peter, then I'll show him up on his reason to kill him._

Spark opened her wings and glided over the crowd. Security guards fired at the two fliers, who began to accelerate.

"Where do we go, Spark?"

"Away!"

Soon the screams of the crowd were drowned out by the distance, and no more shots rang out.

Spark and Dawn were worn out by the extensive amount of flying. In the distance, they saw the groundy of New Cloud City.

Spark was too tired to make it all the way and began to descend into a dirt field. Dawn saw this and followed behind her.

Spark did not land well. She dropped Peter once her feet touched the ground and stumbled forwards. Failing to recover, she fell over and laid still. Her chest hurt, her vision was blurred from the tears, and she could see was the green grass, the brown dirt and the pink sunset.

Eventually, Spark stood up. She was far too exhausted to clean herself. She walked slowly over Dawn, who was crouched over Peter, with her ear to his chest.

"Come on!" she cried. Spark crouched down next to Dawn. Peter's eyes had the glaze over them that she had seen in the eyes of her mother.

Tears streaked Spark's dirt-smeared face.Now Peter had been martyred for her.

_So many peoples' blood on my hands… _Spark failed to control her depression and broke down into sobs that racked her body, and Dawn didn't take long to catch on to what was happening.

Faces flashed through Spark's mind of deaths she was responsible for. Mom, Carolman, Peter, Mom, Carolman, Peter, Mom, Carolman, Peter.

It was maddening. Spark was even more choked up when she thought of Peter's last words.

"_I know Spark and Dawn are out there, and they will destroy you and everything you stand for!" _Peter still had faith in them, even when he and Spark had argued.

Spark shivered in remembrance of Peter's gaze into her eyes seconds before his demise. Had he died still thinking that Spark hated him? Now, Spark could not allow herself to fail, no matter what.

These thoughts were too much.

"We need to give him a proper burial." Spark hiccupped.

"Here?" croaked Dawn.

"No… let's take him to New Cloud City…" Spark answered quietly. Though they didn't say it, they both knew Spark meant the groundy city.

Spark slowly removed the rope from his necks and closed his eyes. To her, it seemed like he was asleep. She struggled to smile, as if to thank Peter for all he had done for her.

"I'm so sorry."

~O~

Spark and Dawn took Peter's body to New York City (as they found it was called) and found a funeral home. Apparently, he was survived by no one, which only added to the grief of the two fliers.

The supply of money they had gathered in donations so long ago was finally running dry, but they paid for Peter's funeral nonetheless. Spark decided that they should conserve their remaining money and sleep in New Cloud City's streets or alleys.

Just before Spark and Dawn took off, they looked to the massive screen on the corner of the street, which had read in bold letters, "BREAKING NEWS." Curious, they stayed to see what it said. An unfamiliar face appeared on the screen and began to speak.

"Regarding the assassination of Lewis Carolman, the president who held office prior to me a day ago, the U.S Congress have formulated a decision based off of the disturbing security tapes of his death." the man declared.

"This is the new president?" Spark asked to herself.

"I guess so," responded Dawn.

"After examining the tapes, we were able to conclude that the assassin was a flier. For the many of you who do not know what fliers are, they are race that live in the cloud over our country. We would not disclose this valuable information, just so that you would not feel threatened, but now it's obvious that this needs to be shared."

Spark turned to Dawn, aghast.

"Was Dash really so reckless as to not dispatch the security cameras?" she asked Dawn excitedly. Perhaps some good could come of the day.

"This was evidently an unnecessary act of terrorism that will not go unpunished. As of today, August 5th, the United States and the North American Union of Fliers are at war."

This was not what Spark was expecting. She and Dawn turned to each other in unison, eyes widened.

"No!"

The two began to fly upwards. The crowd around them watched in awe.

"Aren't _those guys _fliers?"

"Didn't the president just say we were at war with their kind?"

"What if they were trying to kill us?"

Hearing these comments, Spark jetted upwards even faster, in fear of being persecuted or attacked.

Once they landed in New Cloud City, Dawn and Spark ducked into an alleyway and salvaged some cloud bits for sleeping bags. While they did this, they conversed worriedly.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Dawn.

"I don't know! This is awful. The government's already weak due to Caronis's rebellion, and I don't see how they could fight off this new war." Spark said.

"I don't think they can… everything is going wrong Do you think Dash did this on purpose?"

The thought hadn't really occurred to Spark.

"Probably. Now that the groundies and fliers are at war, that gives him another layer to hide under." reasoned Spark.

"Wait!" exclaimed Dawn, "That means that we have another layer to hide beneath, too!"

"True," agreed Spark, "But I think we should get some sleep. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

~O~

Spark awoke to a loud _BANG. _She jumped up, and Dawn was on her feet, too.

"What was that?"

"I don't know!"

_BOOM. _A different sound.

The two fliers sprinted into the street and Spark saw a familiar sight; a sight she had seen in Airchester.

A heavy armor rolled down the street, a few buildings of New Cloud already destroyed. Screams of the innocent civilians tore through the air as they ran down the street.

But that was the least of Spark's concerns.

A groundy flying machine – a plane, had Carolman called it? – swooped down and fired a missile at a factory, which was vaporized almost instantly. Spark's stomach churned at the thought of the fliers that could've been in that building.

Dawn immediately ran up to the tank.

"Wait, stop!"

"What?" cried Dawn, turning around, "Are you up for watching Airchester, part two?"

"Look!" Spark exclaimed.

The heavy tank fired a shot from its cannon and one of the planes exploded. Rubble showered the streets, which Spark wasn't familiar with, as she had lived her whole life in the clouds. The fireball that had once been an airplane plummeted back down to the groundy world.

"That tank hasn't fired once at a building! What if those aren't Caronis's men, and it's once of the few tanks the government has left?" asked Spark.

Dawn was silent, obviously ashamed of her foolhardiness.

"There's only one way to find out, though," Spark added, nodding at her comrade. She caught up to her, and together they maneuvered around the solitary, surprisingly unnoticed. Another plane was shot out of the sky, and some of the debris landed upon the heavy armor, still aflame. Spark and Dawn climbed up and watched as a bit of the plane with the word, 'Remington,' inscribed on it shriveled up and disappeared.

A charred body accompanied the other bits of the ruined plane. Spark felt sick, knowing that these pilots didn't know better than to follow their orders. She knew from experience that groundies were, by no means, unreasonable.

Dawn opened the hatch on the top quietly, and slowly hovered down. Spark mimicked her.

Heading to the left, they saw the room with the controls and the ones operating the tank. Frowning, they tiptoed away due to their lack of weaponry, which they were unsure if they needed.

Thankfully, the other side of the tank was a weapons cache. Spark and Dawn examined the firearms carefully before choosing which ones they wanted. Spark looked into the chamber of each one and swore.

"They have all of the ammo in the control room." she sighed.

"Now what are we going to do?" Dawn asked. Spark paced to the other side of the room and stared at the wall.

"These will have to do." Spark took six combat knives off the wall, and then handed three to Dawn.

"Let's go."

Spark and Dawn crouched down and looked around the corner at the soldiers. Spark observed the armor they were wearing, and saw no insignia representing the N.A.U.F. [North American Union of Fliers).

"These aren't government employed fliers," Spark whispered. Dawn nodded.

Another explosion emanated from outside, and Spark and Dawn both imagined another dead groundy.

Suddenly, Spark was torn between allegiance to groundies and to Caronis, who was defending New Cloud.

There was no time to think when she felt the barrel of gun poking into the back of her head.

Spark slowly raised her hands and turned to Dawn, who also had a soldier behind her.

Like lightning, Dawn took a knife from her belt and stabbed the soldier behind her in the gut. Spark's soldier attempted to bludgeon Dawn with his weapon, but Dawn spun around to dodge it, and her knife slashed across his throat. Blood sprayed into the air.

This alerted the other four rebels, who leapt out of their seats, guns at the ready. Spark got up and threw two of her knives at the soldiers on the very left and very right. They hit their targets spot on. Spark was so grateful to her father for teaching her about combat as a young child.

Dawn threw one of hers, which missed. The second throw hit her target on the chest, and he bowled over. Spark and Dawn dove forward, both holding one knife each. The solitary tried to fire blindly through their cover. He scored a hit on Spark's shoulder, blurring her vision.

"Watch out!" cried Dawn. It took a moment for Spark to focus her vision. She could see a missile heading straight for the tank. Spark shut her eyes tight and braced for impact, trying to blot out the pain of her bullet wound.

Suddenly, it swerved down and destroyed the clouds supporting the front of the tank.

The tank lurched forward and the three fliers began to slide. Spark slid directly into the last rebel, slicing his knee and driving her knife through his shoulder. He screamed.

Spark took the pistol from his now limp hand and put it up to his head. She had only a split second of hesitation before pulling the trigger.

Then the tank fell.

Spark grabbed Dawn with her shot, left shoulder leapt to a notch in the wall, narrowly grabbing it by the skin of her fingertips. She was losing feeling and blood in her other arm.

The windows on the front of the tank were shattered and screaming wind filled Spark's ears.

"We can't get out of the hatch!" Dawn yelled, but Spark could only faintly hear her over the obnoxious ambiance. She felt like hanging onto the notch any longer would tear her arm off. She looked down to Dawn, who was looking to the window. They could both tell was flipping in mid-air by the centrifugal force pulling on them.

To Spark's surprise, Dawn let go. She had timed it perfectly so that the force threw her seamlessly through the window, and Spark realized that she had to do the same.

Until she saw that the ground was maybe five miles away, at most.

Spark sprung off the wall and was thrown around the tank for a moment, almost being beaten unconscious. She battered her legs against the windowsill. She flipped into the broken window, the glass nearly going into her eyes and head.

But she made it out of the tank alive.

Spark hovered for a moment. She could barely see with vision swimming so uncomfortably. She felt something warm and thick soaking her back. The world began to dissolve before Spark's eyes. She gave up and plummeted downwards into the never-ending blackness that surrounded her.

~O~

Astonishingly, Spark woke up. She wasn't going to complain; she just thought that she had no chance of survival from the fall, or blood loss.

Where was Dawn?

Spark tried to sit up, but struggled. Gauze wrapped her torso and left arm. She appeared to be lying down in some forest area.

After about five minutes of Spark wondering how she wounded herself so much, Dawn flew into sight on the horizon, where the sun was setting.

When she landed, she began to speak to Spark,

"Oh, no, I didn't think you'd wake up so soon, I thought I'd have more time to get things!"

Spark chuckled. Dawn dropped a lot of things on the ground, which looked liked groundy sheets and some survival equipment.

"Dawn, where exactly are we?" asked Spark.

"We're on the outskirts of groundy New Cloud… what was it again? New York, that's right."

"Shouldn't we be in the clouds? We're war criminals down here. And I think this is a pretty densely populated area –"

"Not out here, it's not. A long time ago it was, but that city is gone. So long ago that a _forest_ grew out here." Dawn interrupted.

"What do you think happened?" Spark inquired.

"Groundies probably got it destroyed over some petty squabble for power or energy. That's all groundies ever fight about in wars. They really need to sort their priorities." Dawn explained. She finally finished putting down of all of the things carefully.

"How much did you buy? I told you we had to save our money –" started Spark.

"Oh, trust me, Spark, I didn't _buy_ any of this."

~O~

They stayed in their tents for the rest of the day. Dawn and Spark hadn't relaxed in ages, and they felt the stress was hindering them from completing their task. The two fliers told jokes, stories, they laughed, ate and drank, so content with each other's company.

"Can you believe it?" Dawn asked when it was pitch black out and they were both ready to sleep.

"Believe what?" responded a confused Spark.

"It's been almost three months since we met that day on the flying exam."

"Wow. Only three months?"

"It feels like it's been a lifetime."

Spark took a sip of water.

"Yet we still haven't done any substantial damage to Dash or Caronis." she said sullenly.

"Well, we did destroy that tank!" Dawn pointed out.

"I feel like we need to coordinate some sort of plan to strike Dash or Caronis. At this point, I don't really care." Spark let out.

"Nowhere is safe. Groundies will persecute us, Caronis will slaughter us and Dash is still hunting us down."

Spark played Dawn's words in her head over and over. Something seemed wrong.

_Caronis will probably slaughter us…_

"So, I think the first logical course of action would be to –"

"Stop!" Spark cut her off. Dawn was shocked by the sudden outburst.

"Didn't Caronis capture you, not try to kill you?"

Dawn was silent for a moment.

"I don't really remember anything after that man knocked me out, but I ended up in the Rainbow Facility… I'm fairly certain they were going to kill me…"

"Dash said you were in captivity and he stole you from Caronis," said Spark, "Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course!" said Dawn defensively, "Why would I lie to you?"

"Then Dash lied… why would he have lied to someone who works for him?" Spark asked to herself.

"Maybe there's something he didn't want them to know." Dawn reasoned, "Or, maybe, he thought it was you, and wanted to be cautious."

"Perhaps he's manipulating his minions," Spark said, "There may be something about Caronis he can't share."

"Whatever the reason, there's something strange going on between Dash and Caronis."

"I can't think anymore…" Spark groaned, "Good night."

"Night."


	6. Casualties

Spark and Dawn were both glad to have a full night of sleep for once. They both awoke around 11:00.

"Morning." Spark moaned, still a bit sleepy.

"What's for breakfast?"

"Uh… you're the one who got the food!"

"Right."

Dawn sat up and the two fliers got out of their sleeping bags in unison. Dawn rummaged through her bag.

"Breakfast is… eggs." she announced.

"We had eggs _last_ night!" Spark protested jokingly.

"Oh, shut up."

Once they were filled up with food, they packed their tents and bags and soared up to New Cloud. Spark felt immense pain, like the seams between her backs and her wings were on fire. Her willpower kept her flying, though.

When they reached New Cloud, they were grateful to see the destruction had not extended since they had seen it the day before.

"I guess Caronis's men killed off the attackers." pointed out Spark.

"I suppose so. If they weren't government rebels, I'd be quite sorry those guys were dead."

Spark felt her back where it had burned, and felt bandages. She couldn't recall injuring her back in way; just her shoulder.

"What happened to my back?" Spark asked out of the blue.

"I'm not entirely sure," Dawn replied, "I think you cut your back trying to escape the tank. Why?"

"It kind of hurts to fly." Spark answered.

"Can you handle it?"

"Yeah, it's just a hindrance, really. I seem to get over all of my wounds." Spark moved her left shoulder, shook her foot and fluttered her wings, referring to her various injuries.

"Thanks for saving me yesterday, by the way. How did you do it?" inquired Spark.

"Catching you after you fell for 50 meters wasn't my best idea ever." Dawn rolled up her white t-shirt even further to show that most of her arms were covered in black and blue bruises.

"Ouch."

"Tell me about it. What're we going to do today?" Dawn said.

"We still haven't done anything to prepare for the direct assault." Spark tried to lead Dawn on to her intentions.

"Well, we've had other things to deal with, like the whole groundy-flier war."

"It's time we get Dash out of the picture." Spark declared.

"Wait, before you do try to do that, think about this," Dawn started, "Have you ever heard the saying 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

"I have, but I don't really see how –"

"Think! Both Dash and us have a mutual hatred for Caronis. Dash knows where Caronis is, from what you've told me. What if –"

"Are you suggesting we try to _work_ with Dash?" Spark asked in shock.

"Not eternally! Caronis is far more powerful than Dash. Maybe, if we both destroy him, we can end the rebellion, which would let our government combat the groundies more readily –"

It all clicked together suddenly.

"Then the government would help us take down Dash, and if we bring Dash's body to the groundies, we could end the war!" Spark finished for her.

"It seems like we've got a plan!" Dawn said excitedly.

"Just one problem…" Spark murmured, "How in the world are you thinking that we're going to ally with Dash?"

Dawn was silent.

~O~

Spark and Dawn were flying off of the road. Spark's wings ached, and she could only vaguely remember where to go. They both had two handguns strapped to their sides. Spark was trying to remember the exact Vex Frey had driven to the Rainbow Facility almost a week ago. The two fliers were both nervous and unsure if they were going to survive, as they knew Dash wanted them dead.

A facility appeared on the horizon. Spark and Dawn both gulped in recognition.

They landed softly on the clouds outside.

"Are you ready?"

"We fly together, we die together…"

Spark opened the doors, and they both threw their hands behind their heads. The guards inside jumped up and one called into his radio,

"Code Red, top priority undesirables have entered the building, requesting immediate assistance –"

"Save your breath," spat Spark, "We're here to negotiate."

The guard paused.

"Get Commander Mallus in here, now."

Only a minute later, Dash appeared around the corner. Just the sight of him filled Spark with rage and hatred.

"Cuffs."

"That won't be necessary," Dash waved his hand dismissively, "They're negotiating, not surrendering."

"But –" the guard started in protest.

"Silence."

"We're here to talk." Dawn said.

"About…?" Dash led them on.

"Caronis."

"What about him?"

"If you're enemy of Caronis, and we are too, we could work on this together." Spark explained. Dash's eyes widened.

"I assure you, I'm managing quite well."

"Why manage well, when you could eliminate the problem entirely?" Dawn asked.

Dash was quiet for a moment.

"Why shouldn't I just kill you right now?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Spark gestured to her pistols with her eyes, and Dash saw them and understood.

"Follow me." Dash said.

Dash led them down an assortment of long corridors and they eventually found themselves in a hangar full of airplanes, weapons, tanks and soldiers. Spark could tell some of the things were stolen from groundies by the 'Remington' inscription, as she had seen it in New Cloud.

"I've been prepping for assault some time." Dash explained.

"Well, it seems most opportune to strike now," Dawn reasoned, "Everyone's still shocked by the groundy war that _you _started."

"I have my reasons." Dash spat secretively. Spark felt a pit in her stomach for negotiating with the killer of her friends and family.

"So are we going?" she asked.

"I don't see why not. Your two planes can be… the ones over there." Dash pointed to two airplanes on the other side of the hangar. They both began to make their way to their planes.

"By the way," Dash called, "When this is all over, I'm not going to hesitate to kill you."

Spark nodded.

"To you, too, sir."

The doors opened and Dash's minions, alongside Spark and Dawn, soared out of the hangar.

The plane's controls had been simplified. There was a screen displaying the coordinates of Spark's geographical location, and the location of Caronis's stronghold. A headset hung on the side of the cockpit, and Spark decided to put it on.

"Spark? Come in." Spark recognized Dawn's voice.

"I'm here."

"Let the squad leader get in front." said one of Dash's grunts. Spark check the rear-view camera to see she was unintentionally blocking the crimson-colored plane she assumed was the squad leader. She pulled out of the way and the crimson plane accelerated.

"Stay close."

~O~

The location coordinates began to get closer and closer to the squad of fighter planes. Spark was starting to see a settlement of some sort on the horizon. Adrenaline filled her veins. Caronis was as good as gone.

"Attack position." The rest of the squad formed a diamond shape; Spark and Dawn filled in the missing areas.

"The button's on the left." announced the squad leader.

"What does it do?" asked Dawn.

"It drops the bombshells." laughed on of the fighters, obviously amused by her lack of assumption and knowledge of planes.

Spark looked to her left and saw a red button, appropriately colored. The settlement came closer and closer.

"Light 'em up."

Simultaneously, everyone released his or her explosives. There were loud sounds; they had hit their mark. The world shook for Spark. The fires rose, and Spark's wing was set alight.

"I'm going down!" cried Spark. The plane began to turn upside down due to the unbalance.

Suddenly, more planes flew up over the clouds on the other side of Caronis's ruined base.

"Groundies!" called the squad leader.

Spark's eyes widened, and she was completely upside down.

_Groundies? _she thought, _Here? Now?_

She threw down her headset and opened the screen of her fighter plane and jumped out. The plane tore through the clouds about forty meters away, exploded, and fell to the earth in smoldering wreckage.

Spark looked around at the cloud area she had landed on. Planes were destroyed over her head. She could tell a groundy was trying to attack her, but then she realized that Dash's minions might have turned on her.

The plane swooped down, and Spark leapt to the top of it. She was crouched on the windshield and stared into the pilot's eyes with a fiery anger. She readied a fist and slammed it into the glass. The glass shattered, but did not break away. Her hands were torn and bloody. Spark pulled out one of her pistols and shot the screen where she had punched in, breaking the glass and killing the pilot. She jumped down onto the clouds beneath her and the now unpiloted plane plummeted to the groundy world.

Now Spark was in the ruins of Caronis's base. The groundies seemed to be held off by Dawn and Dash's grunts.

As she looked around, she saw no destroyed tanks or weaponry, which was greatly confusing to her.

She was beginning to feel uncomfortable. The ground was littered with bodies, some smaller than others. She even saw a few women, who weren't uniformed. Most of the destroyed structures looked like houses. Just out of curiosity, Spark ran into one, also attempting to take cover.

To Spark's surprise, it _was_ a house. Someone had actually lived there. There was a small staircase, and Spark felt obligated to explore the upper level.

When she went upstairs, what she saw made her fall on the floor and vomit, as it confirmed the distant suspicion she had had.

Three children lay slain on the floor, victim of the bombing. This was no base of Caronis's. This was a small town, full of innocent men, women and children. There were no tanks, no weapons, now soldiers… it had all been a lie.

Had she been the hand by which the innocents had died? Moments ago, she had been so proud to be a participant in the destruction of her enemies, but Spark was praying that none of her shells hit at all.

How could she go on fighting four wars, against Dash, against Caronis, against the groundies, and now against herself?

"I'm a monster…" Spark whispered to herself. The noises of the airborne battle seemed to drown away. Spark emptied her stomach again.

_Dash._

A stream of profanity fell from Spark's lips, and she swore on everything she'd even known that she would kill him. This had all been set up. Spark knew she had to return to the battle and destroy Dash's fleet.

She flew out through a destroyed patch and her back screamed in agony, but she didn't care. Her target was the leader of the operation: the scarlet-crimson squad leader, who was still in commission.

Spark accelerated with all of her might and seized the bottom of the back of the plane, holding on with her stinging fingers of her uninjured arm.

Suddenly troubled, Spark looked around for Dawn, who was nowhere to be found. Perhaps she had already been lost amongst the civilians during the battle, but Spark couldn't afford to think like that at the moment –

Spark slowly made her way to the bottom center of the jet fighter and noticed a hatch. Unable to pry it open, Spark withdrew one of her pistols again and shot it open. She struggled to pull herself in.

Slowly, Spark crept up behind the squad leader's seat in the cockpit, unsheathing the combat knife she still had from the tank in New Cloud.

Without warning, Spark threw him onto the ground out of his seat and stabbed him in the chest, but once was not enough. She kept stabbing over and over, blinded by rage, hoping the animal that had approved of this mission would feel the pain he had caused to the innocent. His eyes glazed over, and Spark felt no remorse. Had she become as inhumane as he had been?

Spark seized controls of the plane and flew up to the battle, as it had flown down without its pilot. She put on the headset and tried to impersonate the squad leader as best as she could, hopefully sounding convincing over the radios.

"Hijacker had entered the plane, I'm okay. Undesirable, do you copy?" Spark asked.

Silence answered her.

"Undesirable, do you copy?" she repeated urgently.

"I'm here," responded Dawn, "I think we've eliminated the groundies." Spark sighed with relief. There seemed to be only two of Dash's workers, and Spark felt as if she couldn't let them accompany her and Dawn back to Dash's base.

"I'll be honest, I'm not who you think I am." Spark returned to her normal voice and said, "I can't believe you'd kill all of those innocents, willingly."

Dawn gasped; The other pilots were silent for a moment.

"I can't let you live. Your crimes are unforgivable."

They raised their voices in protest. Their cries were silenced by Spark and Dawn's unhesitant fire.

"Hey, Dawn…" Spark started.

"I was planning to do that anyway," Dawn laughed, "What were you talking about, though?"

Dawn was still completely oblivious that she had just helped destroy a small town that had done nothing to deserve what had happened.

"Dawn…"

"Yeah?" Her voice was overflowing with excitement due to the false impression that they had destroyed Caronis's army, and him alongside it.

"Dash tricked us," Spark explained, "That wasn't Caronis's base."

"What was it, then?"

"It was a civilian town."

Dawn was silent.

"No…" There were sobs and sniffles. Spark remained quiet.

"We have to kill Dash when we get back." Spark said to Dawn.

"But we still have no idea where Caronis is –" Dawn hiccupped.

"We're so close to him right now, we can finish him."

More silence.

"I guess you're right."

~O~

The Rainbow Facility came into view, and it seemed like something had changed.

Soon, Spark realized they were anti-air guns, pointed at Dawn's plane.

"Dawn, break your screen, you need to get out."

"What?"

"Get out of your plane, now!" yelled Spark urgently. She heard gunshots through Dawn's microphone, and saw her jump out of her window. Spark reduced the throttle on her plane and let Dawn board her.

To Spark's surprise, the anti-air turrets did not target her. They did, however, destroy what used to be Dawn's plane.

Spark shot out her screen and leapt out. The plane crashed into the factory and exploded, taking out half of the wall. Spark was glad to see the destruction of the horrid, wretched factory that represented the start of her revenge tale.

Dawn and Spark landed outside of the factory and began to dismantle the anti-air weapons.

"Why didn't they attack you?" asked Dawn.

"I think they thought I was the squad leader." guessed Spark. As Dawn dismantled the other cannon, she let out a muffled cry. Spark spun on the spot and saw Dash, holding dawn from behind. Before she could rush to her aid, she was grabbed from behind as well.

"Game's up," Dash sneered.

"Why, Dash?" Spark cried, "Why did you have us kill those people? Why not take down Caronis?"

"Stupid girl still can't put two and two together," Dash laughed, "All of my weapons, my soldiers, my armory?"

"You're…" Spark gasped, "You're Caronis?"

"You need to open your eyes, you fools! This government has always been poor and weak! Once I rule the N.A.U.F, we can finally display our dominance over the groundies!"

"You're crazy," Spark grunted, "Insane. You'll never get away with this. I won't let you. _We _won't let you." She gestured to Dawn with her eyes.

"We?" Dash laughed, "I can fix that." One of the assistants of Dash handed a saw, and Spark and Dawn were pushed to the edge of the cloud, Dawn in front of Spark.

"What are you doing?" yelled Spark.

"Watch and learn." Dash put the saw onto Dawn's wings. Dawn quivered in fear.

Then Dash began to saw.

Dawn screamed in agony. It seemed to go on forever, and Spark could do nothing but watch as Dash tore through the flesh, bone and sinew with his weapon. Blood spouted from Dawn's back. More screaming.

Once the wing was half sawed-off. Dash grabbed the wing and ripped it off with his bare hands. Spark tried and tried to escape, but couldn't. She reached for her pistol.

Dash dropped Dawn's wing on the cloud and began with her right wing. Dawn's voice was hoarse from screaming. They were both crying; Dash was laughing maniacally. Again, he tore the wing off with his hands.

Spark's heart was bursting; Dawn, wingless?

"Commander Mallus. are you really… Caronis? I thought we were fighting him…" asked the guard holding Spark. Dash turned to him.

"Of course, are you just as foolish as these two?"

"We never agreed to any of this!" the guard spat angrily. Spark felt his grip loosen, and it was time to act.

"We will discuss this later." Dash growled. Then he pushed Dawn off of the cloud.

Spark broke free of her restraints and drew her pistols, firing shots at the guards who had held her hostage moments before, killing them all but Dash, who was smart enough to fly out of sight.

Spark leapt down the clouds and accelerated faster than she ever had in her life.

_Dawn. Dawn. _The only thought in her mind was to save her friend.

The ground was two miles away. Dawn was ten feet. Tears were streaming from Spark's eyes, maybe from sorrow, maybe from the speed.

Spark threw her arms out and clasped her hands around Dawn's feet.

Three hundred feet. Spark tried to break her momentum, and she pained her wings to the point were they gave out momentarily. She had cut maybe a quarter off of her speed.

A hundred feet. She tried again, to the same effect.

Twenty feet. Spark held Dawn close and tried to cover her deep, gushing wounds.

_BAM._ They collided with the ground; Spark taking the brunt of the fall. She exploded off of her feet and was launched fifteen feet from Dawn.

"Dawn…" coughed Spark. Her shins were on fire, her ankles felt broken, and all she could do to get to Dawn was crawl with her arms, one of which was already injured.

Dawn was lying almost completely still. Her arms were twitching involuntarily. She was lying on her back in a pool of her own blood.

"Dawn…" Spark pulled herself to her knees over Dawn. She looked down at her, and Dawn looked back up.

"Spark." It was a struggle to speak for Dawn. Spark sat her up to apply pressure to her back, which was smeared with blood and dirt.

"You'll be fine…" whispered Spark, though she was unsure.

"No…" Dawn said shakily, "Put… me… back… down…"

"But Dawn –"

"Please." Dawn begged. Spark didn't want to argue, so she did as Dawn wished. Spark's tears fell onto Dawn's face. Dawn was crying, too.

"Dawn, you're my best friend, we'll make it through this!" Spark reassured her.

"I can't…" Dawn replied, her voice now a raspy whisper.

"Don't give up…" sobbed Spark.

"End it for me…" Dawn lightly nudged the pistol on her side, "I don't want… any more pain…"

"I can't do that," Spark hiccupped, "You know I can't."

"Please," Dawn asked again, "You're my… best… friend. Just… do it…" Dawn coughed, and blood specks went everywhere.

"I'm dead already…" she whispered. Spark took the pistol from Dawn's side. The tears in her eyes made it hard to see. She took careful aim, even through injuries, coughing and unwillingness.

"Thank… you." Dawn whispered.

"Good bye… Dawn." Spark cried. She didn't want to. But Dawn would never make it to help, not with Spark's injured body carrying her. She didn't want to prolong Dawn's suffering.

Once Spark was sure the shot was lined up, she turned away.

A shot rang out in the field, and all was silent.


	7. Resurrection

Spark walked. She walked south, for days on end. She only stopped every other day for sleep, and she had food with her. Soon, she happened by an abandoned car. There was no reason the owner had that was important than Spark's for using the car.

Spark drove and drove, until she recognized Washington D.C.

She wasted no time getting to the White House.

"State your business," said a security agent at the door.

"I'm not in any shape to hurt anyone right now." Spark grunted. She had an awful limp, two gashes in her back, a bullet wound in her shoulder and a scar across from her face.

"Please, I need to speak to the president," begged Spark, "It's a matter of the war against fliers." She opened her wings, slowly and painfully. The two agents drew their weapons.

"Do you really think I'd have done that if I was trying to assassinate the president?" Spark asked angrily. One of the guards holstered his pistol and tapped into his Bluetooth.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yes. It is a matter of utmost important, and we must speak immediately."

Spark was glad to hear the president wasn't as much of a fool as he seemed to be when he declared the war.

The security detail led Spark up to the Oval Office, and when she stepped in and looked around, she said,

"I remember this place. How long ago it seems."

"Then… you are the assassin of Carolman?" the president gasped. Spark looked at the old, white haired man behind the desk. His blue eyes were wide, and he had his hand over his mouth, covering his beard. The agents drew their weapons again.

"No, no, I was a friend of Carolman. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have me written somewhere."

"There were a few names in his will we couldn't trace. Do you know anyone named Spark Taller or Dawn Star?" the president asked. Just hearing the name stung Spark, and made her want to run and cry like a child.

"What did it say?" Spark responded with a question.

"It said they shall get 'All of the assistance from anyone who succeeds me in office if needed.'" the president replied.

"Well, Mr.… um…"

"Descutner."

"Mr. Descutner, I'm Spark Taller, and my friend Dawn… is dead." Spark explained.

"Do you have any identification or proof for that?" Descutner asked skeptically.

"I'm sorry, but in the past week, I've accidentally killed many innocent fliers, failed to kill the one who killed Carolman, and I've been forced to kill me best friend to put her out of her misery, so you'll have to excuse me if I'm not prepared for an interview!" Spark broke, "You couldn't trace us because we're fliers!"

"Well, well," Descutner said, "I suppose it all fits together. Why did you come here?"

"I guess to use what Carolman wrote for me in his will," explained Spark, "I know who killed Carolman. The same man is responsible for the deaths of my friends and family. I know where he is, too."

"Who is it, then, and why hasn't he been caught?"

"His name is Dash Mallus, and nobody will believe he's a murderer because he's a famous athlete who people think can do no wrong. People think the sun shines out of his every orifice."

"And what do you propose we do about this?"

"I crashed a plane into his facility, so that's a heavy, but temporary blow. We need your air machine things… planes! We need your planes to assault his factory and bring him down for good. His terrorism has gone on far too long."

"Sounds simple enough." Descutner admitted.

"I'm tired of Dash's games. He needs to be stopped. When's the soonest we can launch an attack to bring him to his knees?" Spark asked.

"I suppose, in three days time." decided Descutner.

"Will this put an end to the war? Dash is the one who started this whole thing." Spark pointed out.

"I suppose so. I see no reason to prolong this war… I regretted the choice as soon as I made it known."

"Thank you, Mr. President. I'm truly grateful." Spark glorified him.

"In the meantime, I suggest that you go and see a hospital of some sort. You look awfully ill and wounded."

"I've got no money," groaned Spark.

"Go to the infirmary downstairs and bring them this note. It's on the house. We'll wake you up when we're ready to leave." Descutner wrote on a piece of paper, which Spark assumed was so that she didn't have to pay.

"Thank you, so much," Spark started out the door, then asked,

"What do you mean 'wake you up when we're ready?'"

"New technology; you'll be out for a few days."

"Alright."

Spark left the office and the federal agents escorted her to the hospital wing, and the nurses sat her down on a small table. Glass slid over Spark, and she was completely boxed in.

"Now what?" asked Spark, unsure about whether not they could hear her.

"We're filling your chamber with a sleeping gas, and then we'll release the antibiotic gases." The voice was surprisingly clear.

There was a fizzing sound, and Spark's eyes drooped. Moments later, Spark fell asleep and the last she thought of was how soon her predicament would finally end.

~O~

"Spark!" She felt far too tired to open her eyes.

"Spark, get up! You need to get up, now!"

_Doubt it,_ Spark thought bitterly. She heard the sound of the glass sliding away.

"Come on, Spark!" said the voice urgently.

The ground rumbled fiercely, and Spark's eyes snapped open. Her vision focused to see Descutner standing over her.

"We're being attacked," he panted, "The top of the White House has been destroyed. You're lucky this is underground."

"Who's doing it?" Spark asked, climbing off the table.

"It's more than likely that Dash character you've told me about," Descutner explained, "You'll have to get to the hangar and command yourself! Do you feel better?"

Spark hadn't even noticed how all of her injuries were gone.

"Yeah. Where's this hangar?"

"It's not too far. Just fly. You can't miss it, it's got the word –"

"– Remington on it?" Spark finished for him.

"Uh, yes…" Descutner was obviously surprised that she knew.

"I'm on it." Spark said, starting up the staircase.

"Good luck."

Spark stepped out into the streets and saw the fighter planes swooping about, shelling Washington D.C. She flew up into the sky and accelerated towards a plane that was going at a very tame pace, clearly trying to aim. Spark was glad to feel no pain in flying again.

She took a swipe at the tail, and missed. The plane began to go faster; Spark had to stop him from dropping another bombshell.

She took a second swipe, and hit her mark. Slowly, she climbed down to the hatch, which she knew was there based on previous experience with Dash's modified planes.

Spark felt lucky that the hatch was unlocked.

Once in the plane, Spark ran up and attempted to catch the pilot off guard, which didn't work. The pilot stood up and fired a shot at Spark, who slid down to avoid him and kicked out his legs. The pistol flew up into the air, and Spark grabbed it and killed him, firing a single shot into his head.

She took control of the plane and began to attack other planes, taking them out before they even knew what was happening.

Soon, they realized this, and turned on her. Spark flew her plane away, accelerating to the point where she almost lost control and they couldn't be bothered to chase her.

About a minute later, Spark saw the hangar of which Descutner had spoken. The word Remington was so large, she could see it from a mile away.

Once she landed outside, Spark hopped out of her plane and ran over to the pilot crew across the hangar.

"The president isn't here, I'm Spark, and I'll be leading you."

"You're Spark?" asked one of the pilots, "I thought you'd be older."

"Whatever," Spark said dismissively, "We need to go. D.C is already under attack. Two of you, go and defend your capital."

She picked two volunteers, who readied their planes and soared out into the sky, vanishing on the horizon.

"The rest of us are heading to the Rainbow Facility. ETA is an hour and a half. Before we go, I'd like to thank you all for the assistance."

The crew saluted.

"Now get in the planes. I'll see if I can't tap into the network with my hijacked plane."


	8. Confrontation

Along the way, they all laughed, joked and seemed to become friends. Spark felt almost guilty and was already sad. She knew some of them would more than likely lose their lives this day. Spark's goal was to destroy the factory and kill Dash, after such a long time of misery and suffering due to him.

_BOOM._ One of the planes exploded in front of her. She screamed and swerved out of the way. Obscenities flooded her headset.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I'm trying to see with the zoomed view. Some factory can see us, and they have manned anti-air cannons." one of the pilots informed her.

_Again?_ Spark thought, scared.

"Evasive maneuvers, we need to get closer!" Spark commanded. Closer and closer the shots came. They were beginning to predict the pilots' movements.

"We are within firing range."

"Take out the cannons." said Spark, accelerating to fire. A cannon took out her tail.

"I'm going down!" Spark cried, "I'll be fine!" Spark dropped her bomb and destroyed her plane's visor, leaping out.

Unfortunately, the plane did not have its intended effect, as it wasn't fast enough to destroy the fortified iron. However, her shell did succeed in destroying one of the cannons.

Spark soared down to the other anti-air and shot its operator to death. She waved her hands to signal she as alive to her fellow pilots.

The noise of grinding metal filed the air momentarily, and more planes entered the sky. Spark knew she had to get into the Rainbow Facility, quickly.

An explosion. Spark wheeled around before going inside and saw one of the planes of her pilots explode, with him still in it.

_No more can die on my account… _Spark thought bitterly as she ran in.

The two guards both drew weapons, one was a firearm, and one was a sword. Spark dispatched them with ease and took their weapons, surprised that they still used swords.

She wandered around the facility, and then realized how few groups of people she had encountered, but then remembered they were most likely combating the squadron of pilots. Where was Dash?

_BOOM._ A wall was brought down, and Spark saw it was an enemy fighter when its ruins skidded to her feet. She was glad that they weren't being completely annihilated by Dash's opposition.

"…and scour this place for them! I know they're here! Once you've gotten rid of those last two fighters, you all will check each and every nook and cranny of this facility!" Dash's voice echoed off of the walls.

Footsteps. Spark turned around and saw a group of ten aiming their weapons towards her. They all stared for a moment, and she stared back until a spear almost gored her through her neck. She leapt up and began firing into the crowd. They fired back, and soon all of them had their wings spread, other than the ones who had been killed already.

_Click. _Spark recognized the sound of an empty chamber, or maybe two empty chambers. She dove into a hallway to her right, and a bullet whizzed past her foot, reminding her of the injury she had gotten when killing Hendrick, back when both of her comrades were still alive –

Spark couldn't afford to distract herself at the moment. She had to run. Spark sprinted down the cold, dark hallway and turned to corner, waiting. She heard them chasing her. Spark unsheathed her sword and held it up.

The first man rounded the corner and rain straight into her sword. Blood sprayed out of the gaping wound he had just received.

The second man came and aimed his gun at Spark, who kicked it out of his hand. She brought the sword down on his foot, causing him to bend in pain.

It was then that the rest of the crew found their way around the corner. Spark pulled her sword out of the injured man's foot, and it slashed him across the face, blood pouring everywhere.

Spark started on the next guard, and finished him. He hadn't expected Spark to start slashing up to his right shoulder, and then to cleave down hard on his left. There was a cling of metal and the sound of bone breaking. The guard screamed, and Spark was forced to kick him to free her sword from his torso.

Spark turned to see one of the men with his sword in the air, beginning to come down. She simply sidestepped and thrust her into his chest. His cry of rage turned silent as blood filled his lungs.

Spark looked around the corridor, where four men lay slain by her sword. The floor ran red with blood. She stole the little reserve ammo they had been carrying and reloaded her weapons. Spark decided she wasn't so comfortable with the close-call situations the sword brought to her.

"If that's the last one, get in here. Find them. I don't care if they retreated." Spark heard the voice of Dash again.

Spark continued to loot.

"These ought to come in handy…" There were grenades strapped to their utility belts. Spark decided to test them out. She pulled the pin out with her teeth and lobbed the explosive down the hallway. There was a loud bang, and part of the hallway was destroyed. The hole in the ceiling had left led to the upper floor. From what Spark could remember, the security cameras were located on Floor 2. She soared up through the hole and was greeted by another dispatch of guards. Too exhausted to fight, Spark flew down the hall and rounded corners repeatedly as to confuse them of her whereabouts.

"I've lost sight of her!" someone called. Spark stayed latched to the ceiling until the noise died down.

Dash's voice came over the loudspeaker.

"Considerable damage has been done to the factory. We will search for the two infiltrators until we have found them, or until the place goes down on top of us. They will not leave alive."

Spark was still unsure as to why Dash believed there was two of her. Did he think Dawn was still alive?

"The last sign heard of them was on the second flo –"

_Bzzt._ The loudspeaker went out with a buzz, and Spark listened for another update.

The lights went our and the factory shifted forwards, making a slope. Spark knew the power had gone out, and the facility wasn't falling just yet. She slid down alongside bits and pieces of iron rubble. To her dismay, she realized that she could no longer utilize the camera room due to the lack of electricity.

The screams of the workers echoed off of the walls, reminding Spark of the innocent villagers' screams. She shut her eyes and blocked out the thoughts, holding them at bay.

The facility tilted further and turned a complete ninety degrees from its original position. Spark slammed into the ground and was winded. She stood up, her chest aching. The Rainbow Facility had fallen for a moment, but had been caught by another cloud. It looked strange, with the doors on the walls.

Spark had to hurry.

She sprinted down a hallway and hopped over a doorframe. She absentmindedly threw a grenade to her left and ran right. The explosion shook the floor that was actually a wall. There was a group of guards running down the hallway towards a hole in the side. They seemed to be escorts of some sort. Spark fired wildly and killed them all but one. The one she didn't kill turned around and shot back. It was Dash.

Spark had one bullet left, and she wasn't about to waste it on an unclear shot. Dash shot back at her, and none of them seemed to hit. Spark was diving and rolling about, determined to not let Dash hurt anyone anymore, including herself. With his final shot, a bullet tore through her left hand. Spots flickered in front of Spark's vision. She could barely see, combining the darkness with her now poor vision.

Dash threw his gun away, out of ammo. Spark tried to steadily aim the pistol at his head.

"End of the line, Dash."

"Where's your little friend?" Dash asked, smiling coldly

"I think you know she's dead." grunted Spark.

"I never break my promises," Dash sneered. Spark knew he was referring to when he said 'I can fix that,' prior before cutting off Dawn's wings. Filled with rage, Spark pulled the trigger, quite sure she was spot on.

The facility lurched again and the bullet flew over Dash's shoulder, and he laughed evilly. Spark tossed her gun away and withdrew her knife with her good hand. She sprinted down and jumped, lunging furiously at Dash's throat.

In mid air, the Rainbow Facility began rotating again, and Spark and Dash were thrown to the wall. The factory was falling out of the sky.

Spark swung at Dash's arm with the knife, but Dash parried her swing and slammed his fist into her nose, breaking it. She dropped the knife and Dash took it.

The factory threw them into another wall, and they were plastered to the roof. Spark was fighting to stay conscious. Dash could not over come the air pressure on his arms, and could not swing the blade because of it.

The pressure went away and Spark felt an almost backbreaking force as she landed. She was paralyzed with fear, or pain, or maybe both.

The Rainbow Facility had landed, but it landed tilted, as if it had touched down on a hill. Spark felt useless, and Dash seemed useless. They were both in immense pain from impact, but Spark had more injuries. The enemies rolled down the slope of the inclined floor, not bothering to fight.

They fell out of the hole in the side and skidded across the dirt. Dash rolled further than Spark and the knife fell out of his hand. It was an equal distance from where Spark and Dash stopped rolling. There was a slamming sound, and Spark turned over to see Dash had collided with a tree. Maybe he had passed out. An easy kill. She slowly stood up and feebly limped over to Dash, blade at the ready. Aiming for the neck, she brought the knife down, hard.

Dash stuck his hand up and grabbed Spark's wrist, throwing her to the ground and taking the knife. He did not hesitate to stab the dagger in to her gut. She felt like she was going to burst. Tears leaked from her eyes. She had destroyed the Rainbow Facility? Why couldn't she just die now?

Dash laughed at her, how pathetic she was. She had come so far, just to stop now.

"Why couldn't you just lie down and die?" he asked softly, "Instead, you insisted to watch your friends all die, one by one…" Slowly, Dash began to wobble away. Then Spark spoke to him.

"Because I… was willing to… to give up everything I had…" She struggled to get the words out.

"For those… who couldn't." Spark coughed. She slowly began to pull the knife out of her chest with the little strength she could muster.

Dash turned around.

"You 'heroes.' You go so far. But what for? In the end, you'll just be another grave, another name without a face." He continued to walk away. Spark heard planes flying overhead. She rolled her head to look at her forest-like surroundings. She continued to pull the knife from her chest.

"I'm willing… because I know… you can't go on killing anymore innocents…. I'm going to kill you…" The knife finally was free from her stomach. Spark felt the warm blood soak her torso.

"No matter the cost!" With the last of her strength, Spark flung the blade. It soared through the air, and hit Dash in the side of the head. He went rigid suddenly, and fell over on the ground, dead.

Spark rested her neck and put her hands on her gaping chest wound, left hand first. Her right hand covered both wounds. She sighed heavily, having a hard time breathing. Dash was dead, and the Rainbow Facility had been destroyed. Spark had played her part. All she could do was hope someone found Dash's body and ended the war. She closed her eyes, and let the darkness consume her.


	9. Finale

To Spark's surprise, she did wake up. She had bandages all over, on her chest, her head and her hand.

She had survived.

"How did I…?" A nurse entered the room. A groundy. Why were they caring for a flier?

"What's going on?" Spark asked, disoriented.

"Spark!" It was Nurse Rose.

"Nurse Rose!" Spark exclaimed, with the most enthusiasm she could in her current state.

"We weren't sure you were going to make it! We thought you were on your deathbed, the odds were so against you –" Nurse Rose was aghast.

"I get the picture." Spark waved her hand dismissively.

"Now that you're awake, we need to put you in the chamber."

"Chamber?"

"Oh, the president said you'd be quite familiar with it because you had used it before…"

"The one with the antibiotic gases?" Spark asked.

"That's the one. It arrived here last night."

"Last night? How long have I been out? And while we're on this topic, how did you find me? Why didn't I get killed for being a flier –?"

"You've been out for three weeks," Nurse Rose began, "Some pilot named Jackson found you and the other man in a field. He brought you here as soon as possible, he told us. He saved your life." Spark's eyes watered. She did not verbalize it, but she knew Jackson was one of the pilots who had flown to the Rainbow Facility in their squad. She would never be able to thank him enough.

"Jackson also flew the body back to the White House to show the president. Humans and fliers are in harmony. The war is over." So much good news at once. Spark felt truly happy for the first time in ages. It did not last long, as she remembered all of the lost. Dawn, Spike, Peter, Mrs. Taller, Carolman, and many more. Spark was upset not just for those whom she had known personally. She could not imagine all of those whom had laid their lives down in the Groundy-Flier war, not to mention the civilians that had been slain by her own hand.

"Thank you." Spark said finally.

"Are you ready for the chamber?" Nurse Rose withdrew a syringe from her shirt pocket.

"How long will I be out?" Spark asked.

"Probably six or seven days. Your injuries are quite severe."

"Alright." Spark closed her eyes and waited for the shot.

She felt the needle pierce her arm, waited for a few seconds, and felt nothing more.

~O~

_Glass._ At least they had fulfilled their promise. Doctors and nurses were already standing over her tube. The protective glass slid away, and Spark sat up almost instantly. All that remained were a few cuts and the scar that ran across her face. Nurse Rose handed Spark her clothes and smiled. Spark struggled to smile back. The war had ravaged her mind. All of the dead… it was all her fault. It would have been better if she had died all of those months ago in June. What was it now, October? If she alone had died, so many others would have survived.

When Spark was dressed, she went over to Nurse Rose.

"How much will this cost?" Her voice was low and sullen.

"You ended the war and saved so many lives of our people. Our nation and yours are at peace because of you. Trust me when I say that the cost is covered."

"Thank you." Spark bowed her head thankfully.

"I don't suppose I'll be on the ground anymore, much less in the hospital again," Spark started, "So I suppose this is good-bye, Nurse Rose. Thank you for saving me so many times."

"It's been a pleasure knowing you, Spark." said Nurse Rose.

"I can surely say the same." And with these words, Spark pushed open the doors and stepped out into the familiar Manchester streets. Though she had just been medically restored, she felt empty inside. All of the dead were stuck in her mind, no matter how hard she tried to push them out.

Spark did not hesitate to soar back up into the sky. When she arrived in Airchester, she saw that the destruction was not as great as it had been when Spark had seen it months earlier. No shops were up and running, but there were many construction workers that she saw building shops, trying to restore them to their former glory.

Spark walked down the main street of Airchester slowly, stopping frequently to look at places that she had gone to before her war with Dash.

Most of them had been destroyed, and were still in ruins. Some of the workers nodded at her, acknowledging her identity. She shook her head, saddened. Like everything else valuable in her life, Airchester was gone.

Spark reached the end of the main street. In the distance was her old school, Daring Dash High. Nobody was there; it seemed far darker there than it had been so long ago.

_The bench._ It was still there, after all this time. Spark was surprised. The bench that she and Spike had sat on while still so innocent. Before Spike had been killed. Before Spark had been forced to kill.

This wasn't the first time she had revisited it, either. After seeing Carolman, she had returned to Airchester. The seat that was broken on the opposite side of the street was gone now. This one, however, was still there.

Spark sat down on the cloudy, comfortable bench and laid down across it. She had to thank her dad, who had essentially had taught her to survive this ordeal, even though he was dead for almost a year now. he thought about the future, but still clung to her horrific past. Where would she live? What would she do? Would she have to return to her school?

There were too many questions to answer. Spark shook her head, disappointed. She tried to push the noises of the tools out of her head. Although Spark knew they meant well, reconstructing Airchester, but it was quite bothersome.

She opened her eyes and stared up into the mostly blue sky. Some was covered by the upper levels of clouds. Maybe she would live up there some day.

Spark rolled over, depressed. She was a hero, but she didn't feel like it. She always thought being a hero would be associated with riches and happiness, but instead she was alone in the world.

Spark rolled over again absentmindedly and saw the workers repairing the school. Perhaps they would reopen it.

They seemed primarily concerned with the sign. They were using their tools to fortify and stick clouds together.

_S…_ What were they doing? 'Daring' definitely didn't start with an S…

_P…_ Maybe they renamed the school.

_A… _It may not even be a school anymore.

_R… _Now Spark was confused beyond belief.

_K… _That was her name.

Five minutes later, the sign read,

_SPARK TALLER HIGH SCHOOL._

Tears leaked from Spark's eyes. She was bit shocked, but it seemed appropriate to her. If only she could ask them to put Peter's name, or Dawn's name, or her mom's, or Carolman's. Maybe she could.

"Do you like it?" called out one of the workers. Spark was too choked up to speak. She couldn't say no, so all she could do was nod and give them a thumbs-up.

Spark rolled back over and stared at the sky again.

Suddenly, a convoy of fliers appeared on the horizon, carrying a large glass box. Spark squinted her eyes to see that it was full of a rainbow liquid. It was clear that it had been taken from the Rainbow Facility. She leapt to er feat, battle ready.

The fliers landed by her and placed the box on the ground.

"What are you doing with that?" Spark asked. One of the fliers stepped forwards.

"Whatever you wish, Ms. Taller." the man said, bowing.

Spark wasn't used to being treated so royally. What she wanted to say was 'destroy it.' But a question came to her mind.

"Do you know how old it is?"

"Scientists have said it may date back to late may to early June." responded the respectful flier.

"Spike…" Spark whispered, "How much is in there?"

"Lots." Spark looked at the school and saw a few machines.

"What are those?" Spark called to the workers, gesturing to the machines. One withdrew a pair of binoculars and examined them.

"They appear to be projectors of some sort!" the worker yelled back.

"Could we project this, then?" Spark pointed to the box of rainbow.

"Probably, for a short time!"

_Just like a real rainbow._ Spark started to pick up the large box, and the rest of the group joined her.

"We're taking this to the top of the school." commanded Spark.

~O~

Soon, they had figured out the mechanics of the projectors, and Spark could rest easy. She returned to her bench, now thoroughly exhausted and depressed.

The rainbow shone across the sky, emitted by the project.

_Spike…_ Spark broke down into sobs as she remembered everything of the past months as vividly as it had just happened. Spark was alone in the world.

~O~

Months passed. Spark's house was repaired, and she saw her mother's body again. The attendants of school had to return, as did she.

As Spark walked down the hallways, she kept her head down. Only her fiery orange hair labeled her. Many who had took her for a nobody now wanted a handshake. The mundane classes stayed the same for her. Even the flying classes, which used to be exciting for Spark, seemed bland. All of the chaos that Spark had first-handedly endured took away from her life.

On her way to her science class, she bumped into someone.

"Oh, um, sorry…" Spark tried to walk around him, not looking up.

"You're Spark, right?" he asked. She decided to look at him, trying to respect her peers.

He was rather tall, with dark brown hair that was rather untidy. He had a dimpled smile on his face, which added to his astonishingly blue eyes.

"Yeah, that's me." chuckled Spark awkwardly.

"I remember you. What happened to that other girl?" he asked. Spark raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Do I know you…?"

"Probably not. I'm Lightning." He introduced himself. They shook hands.

"Lightning Barlow. You can call me Light, though."

"You're the one who escaped the Rainbow Facility, aren't you?" asked Spark in remembrance.

"Yeah," admitted Light, "Your friend's plan was genius. Where is she now?"

Spark looked down and tried to stop the tears.

"Oh." Light understood, and didn't want to upset Spark further.

They stood there for a moment, not sure what to say.

"I'm glad you got him. He's a monster. You really went all the way, didn't you way, didn't you?" asked Light.

"Yeah…" Spark forced a laugh. Light's sympathy made her more comfortable. The hallway was entirely empty now.

"You're really cut up," Light pointed out. Spark nodded.

"I've been through a lot." sighed Spark, not compelled to elaborate.

"I can tell," Light said, "I would've helped you. My parents wouldn't even believe me. I sent you a note in the mail, but I guess you never got it."

Spark thought back to the day she first got back to her house. The note that she had gotten from the mail. It said, 'I'm with you.' She had gotten it, but she felt that she didn't need to tell him. It was too cryptic, anyways.

"My mom didn't believe me, and now she never will." Spark muttered.

"Even though you killed –" Light had another realization, and stopped again.

"Believe it or not, me and Dawn actually were trying to get to you, but Dash tricked us and I broke my wings. We kind of forgot after that." explained Spark.

"Oh."

They were both silent again.

"Well, I ought to get to class, I suppose," Light started awkwardly. Spark nodded, and they walked in separate directions.

"See you around!" called Light, turning around and walking separate directions.

"Bye, Light." Spark called dully over her shoulder. Was she just destined to be emotionless for the rest of her life? All of her losses had drained her of sympathy and feelings. She felt no obligation to be friendly to anybody. Spark sat down in her class and zoned out of her teacher scolding for being late. Once the teacher was done lecturing her, Spark put her head down on the desk and cried. Nobody comforted her.

The End


End file.
